(Austin, TX, Monday, March 25, 2019) – A majority of women will experience uterine fibroids by age 50. These non-cancerous tumors occur in the muscle cells of the uterus and can cause debilitating symptoms, including heavy bleeding, pelvic pain and abdominal enlargement.

Dr. Jemianne Bautista-Jia, a physician at Kaiser Permanente in Los Angeles, California, shares results of her research on a minimally invasive non-surgical treatment for uterine fibroids presented this week at the Society of Interventional Radiology’s Annual Scientific Meeting.

SOUNDBITE #1:

UTERINE FIBROID EMBOLIZATION, OR U-F-E, IS A NONSURGICAL TREATMENT FOR UTERINE FIBROIDS THAT IS AS DURABLE AS SURGERY, BUT RESULTS IN FEWER COMPLICATIONS AND BETTER SYMPTOM CONTROL. WITH THIS TREATMENT, INTERVENTIONAL RADIOLOGISTS INSERT A CATHETER THROUGH A SMALL INCISION AND – USING REAL-TIME IMAGING – GUIDE THE CATHETER TO THE UTERUS TO RELEASE TINY PARTICLES TO BLOCK THE BLOOD FLOW TO THE FIBROIDS. THIS CASUES THE FIBROIDS TO SHRINK RESULTING IN IMPROVEMENT OF SYMPTOMS. UTERINE FIBROID EMBOLIZATION IS LESS INVASIVE, PRESERVES THE UTERUS AND HAS A SHORTER RECOVERY TIME.

SOUNDBITE #2:

IN OUR RESEARCH, WE REVIEWED OUTCOMES FOR WOMEN WHO UNDERWENT UTERINE FIBROID EMBOLIZATION OR MYOMECTOMY, THE SURGICAL REMOVAL OF FIBROIDS. AFTER AN AVERAGE SEVEN-YEAR FOLLOW UP, WE FOUND THAT WOMEN WHO UNDERWENT UFE HAD A LOWER RATE OF COMPLICATIONS INCLUDING POSTPROCEDURAL BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS AND HAD COMPARABLE RATES OF SECONDARY TREATMENT FOR CONTINUED SYMPTOMS. WE ALSO FOUND THAT WOMEN TREATED WITH UFE HAD HIGHER RATES OF IMPROVEMENT IN HEAVY MENSTRUAL BLEEDING. WITH UTERINE FIBROID EMBOLIZATION, WOMEN CAN TREAT THEIR SYMPTOMS SAFELY AND GET BACK TO THEIR LIVES SOONER.

To learn more about this and other interventional radiology treatments, visit S-I-R-w-e-b.org.