Health Center - Reproductive and Pelvic Health
No matter your age, the health of your reproductive and urinary organs—your pelvic organs—is important. If something goes wrong "down there," it affects your overall health and quality of life. Get answers to all of your most pressing questions and put an end to embarrassing symptoms.
Fibroids: Symptoms and Treatment Options
- Uterine artery embolization (UAE), also called uterine fibroid embolization (UFE). This procedure blocks the blood supply to the arteries that feed the fibroids. Without an adequate blood supply, the fibroids shrink. Studies find that UAE shrinks fibroids about 40 percent and improves troublesome symptoms like heavy bleeding and pelvic pressure in 90 percent of women undergoing the procedure. While more research is necessary, women who get pregnant after UAE tend to do well and deliver healthy babies, but they may have an increased risk of uterine rupture and often elect to have cesarean sections.
- Myolysis. In this procedure, the tumor is destroyed using laser, radiofrequency energy or freezing. It is usually performed using a laparoscope through a small incision in your abdomen, although sometimes via a hysteroscopy (through the vagina). Myolysis usually can't be performed on a woman who has a very large uterus, and you shouldn't try to get pregnant after the procedure because the uterus could rupture.
- Magnetic resonance imaging-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS).
