Editor's Note: As part of the Spirit of Pocono Medical Center Women's programming, Dr. Islam Shahin presented quot; To the south of fronteraquot;, an intimate look at the health of the pelvis, 11:301 : 30 Tuesday, June 16th at Azul Tequila at the Days Inn. For cost and information, call (570) 4763697. Q: I have been diagnosed with uterine fibroids and my doctor recommended uterine fibroid embolization. Could you explain what this treatment br Uterine fibroids (also known as myomas or leiomyomas) are common benign noncancerous tumors that grow on or inside the muscle of the uterus. Fibroids can cause heavy bleeding, pelvic discomfort, swollen abdomen, anemia, painful intercourse, pain in the legs or create pressure on other organs. Fibroids are usually diagnosed through pelvic ultrasound examinations by a gynecologist, and can grow as small as a walnut or as large as a melon or even larger.Up 70 to 80 percent of all women with uterine fibroids. Although most of these women usually have no symptoms and may not even know they have fibroids, approximately six million American women have symptoms severe enough to require medical treatment. Up to onethird of women with fibroids experiences symptoms that can become so severe and debilitating that their everyday life is affected.Symptomatic uterine fibroids are typically diagnosed in women ages 35 to 54, and are found to be more than three times as common in African American women than Caucasians. Uterine fibroids can and do occur in women under 35 years, even as young as the early 20s.There several safe and effective treatment options available today for symptomatic uterine fibroids, ranging from quot; vigilantequot expected; and drug therapy for minimally invasive and surgical treatments. However, women are still not aware of all treatment options available. Traditionally, the most common treatment for uterine fibroids is hysterectomy, which involves complete removal of the uterus, and often the ovaries. Many doctors continue to recommend hysterectomy as the standard treatment of uterine fibroid tumor, since they are not familiar with the less invasive options such as uterine fibroid embolization (UFE). In fact, two thirds of the 600,000 hysterectomies performed each year in the U.S. are for the treatment of uterine fibroids tumors.UFE or uterine artery embolization (UAE) is a surgical treatment alternative to hysterectomy that takes less than an hour. During the procedure, an interventional radiologist uses a small catheter to deliver miniature microspheres into blood vessels, cutting off blood supply to the fibroids and devitalising without causing permanent injury to normal uterine tissue.First conducted in 1994, over 50,000 women worldwide have been treated with the procedure. Clinical studies have shown that UFE provides a substantial improvement in core symptoms, including pain, pelvic discomfort and urinary problems. These improvements are similar to those experienced by patients who underwent a hysterectomy, but without the long recovery. Significant adverse effects are rare in women treated with UFE and overall adverse effects are fewer in number and severity than in the hysterectomy group.A fiveyear study shows that UFE provides relief of symptoms long term by more 70 percent of treated women compared with fibroid recurrence rates as 62 percent after myomectomy. The study also shows that patients are able to achieve a recovery time of a great week clinical improvement in symptoms such as excessive bleeding and pelvic pain. More invasive surgical methods, such as hysterectomy or myomectomy, takes six to eight weeks recovery.Dr. Shahin Islam is a radiologist and a staff member of Pocono Medical Center. he practices in medical imaging of the Lehigh Valley in Allentown. br br
