Now, an old technique is providing women who suffer from uterine fibroids a nonsurgical treatment alternative. Physicians have used embolization for more than two decades to treat pelvic bleeding and trauma, and now they are using the procedure to shrink uterine fibroids too.
Women with problematic uterine fibroids traditionally have had only two options- a hysterectomy or a myomectomy (surgical removal of the fibroids). In fact, unwanted fibroid symptoms trigger approximately 150,000 hysterectomies each year.
Embolization offers fewer complications and a quicker recovery than surgical options. It has an 85% to 92% sucess rate compared with myomectomy, after which 10% to 30% of patients develop fibroids again.
