Treatments: UAE: Example: In Lay Terms

Uterine Artery Embolization - An Example Case
A 40-year-old woman with 2 children came to see Dr. Kirsch. She had been having increasingly heavy periods and worsening menstrual cramping for about 10 months. On examination, her uterus was 'lumpy' and enlarged to the same size as a 15-16 week pregnancy. The ultrasound examination showed a number of fibroids in her uterus. She was moderately anemic despite her iron therapy (if she had not been on iron the anemia would certainly have been worse). She was not pregnant. No other abnormalities were found by history or physical examination.

Since she wanted to avoid hysterectomy (which was the alternative that her gynecologist had offered), she chose UAE for her fibroid disease. The embolization was performed while she was sedated but awake. 10cc of plastic embolic particles were used, which is about average.

After the procedure, she had several hours of moderate to severe cramping, which was controlled with medications. She felt much better after about 12 hours. She was sent home the morning after the UAE on Motrin® for the residual cramps.

Since her UAE, her abnormal bleeding has stopped. Her periods have been normal. She has also had marked improvement of her menstrual cramping. When she was seen for follow-up after her UAE, her blood counts were back to normal. An ultrasound 3 months after the UAE showed that her uterus was less than half the size it had been on the day of the UAE. She has had no return of fibroid-related symptoms since her UAE (which was in the first 3 months of 2000).

NEXT» An Example of UAE for Physicians