“Uterine Fibroid Embolization (UFE)” is a minimally invasive treatment for fibroid tumors in the uterus. Although fibroid tumors are not malignant, they may cause heavy menstrual bleeding, pain in the pelvic region and pressure on the bladder or bowel. They may interfere with urinary frequency, induce pain during intercourse and can cause miscarriage and affects fertility too. However the treatment is only administered by interventional radiologists and the specialist physicians.

A recent study presented at the ‘Society of Interventional Radiology’s 33rd Annual Scientific Meeting’ however analyzed that only few women are aware of this treatment. They conducted a research among 105 patients in the Atlanta metro area and found that only 18 percent of the women were informed by their gynecologists about ‘uterine fibroid embolization (UFE)’. Most of them knew about it primarily through the Internet or any media advertisement. Only among rare cases, they got referrals from their gynecologists.

UFE has already been widely acclaimed as a safe treatment for benign and cancerous tumors. It is slowly replacing the popular treatments which were previously sought by the private physicians or the gynecologists while treating women for uterine fibroids like hysterectomy or myomectomy surgery.

John Lipman, M.D., Director of Interventional Radiology at ‘Emory-Adventist Hospital’ in Atlanta professes UFE to be indisputably safe and effective and recommends it to be adopted by the physicians. He also adds that it should be physician’s responsibility to suggest treatment to his patients. “Gynecologists need to be the ones taking the lead on this, and I applaud Kaiser Permanente’s gynecologists for being the only ones in our area to consistently do this,” said John.

Embolization is a common interventional radiology treatment. During the surgery, a little cut is made in the skin and a catheter is inserted into the femoral artery. The physician guides the catheter up the artery using real-time imaging, and then releases few grain sized particles  into the blood vessels which had been nourishing the fibroid, finally cuts off the blood supply to the fibroid and let it shrink and die and the accompanying symptoms to subside. It is a quick and less complicated treatment as compared to hysterectomy and myomectomy and most of the women treated with this are able to come back to normal course of life within few days. It normally doesn’t require any hospital stay during the treatment.

After hysterectomy the surgical patients have to spend much time at hospital and even have to wait for six to eight weeks additionally at home to recover fully. UFE patients on the other hand have much faster recovery even less than the normal hospital time.

Despite all this recommendation and overall comfort level associated with UFE, it has been interesting to note that there has been little downfall in the number of hysterectomy in the United States during the past decade. So in order to increase its awareness and popularity among the gynecologists, interventional radiology has consistently published about this treatment in the gynecology journals.

Interventional radiologists use MRI to delineate the location of each fibroid and provide second opinion to the women who is seeking UFE. They come to a great help to the gynecologists as efficacy of the treatment cannot be measured in gynecologist’s office by using ultrasound imaging.  Interventional radiologists specialize in minimally invasive, targeted treatments coupled with the most effective diagnostic and clinical techniques. As compared to open surgery, they offer less risk, less pain and less recovery time.