A Large Uterine Fibroid Is Treated With Non-Invasive Uterine Fibroid Embolization
Today, I’m inspired to write this piece because I just returned from a luncheon honoring the doctor who gave me the good news I would not need major abdominal surgery to treat my very large uterine fibroid.
Several years ago, Marc L. Friedman, MD, Chief of Vascular and Interventional Radiology at the S. Mark Taper Foundation Imaging Center at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles was the physician who told me I would not need surgery to get rid of a fibroid, that was, according to my OB/GYN, “the size of a baby’s head.”
When I was pregnant with my second child, my OB/GYN told me I had a uterine fibroid. It wasn’t causing problems and her recommendation was to keep an eye on it.
According to Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, “Fibroids are benign (not cancer) masses of muscle tissue in the uterine wall. These growths can be very tiny or as large as a cantaloupe. In most cases, there is more than one fibroid. They are not associated with cancer, very rarely develop into cancer and do not increase the risk of uterine cancer.”
According to Web MD, “African-American women tend to get uterine fibroids two to three times as often as white women, and also tend to have more symptoms from uterine fibroids.” I’m African American so I fit this profile.
In late 2006, I went to the doctor for my annual check up. She told me the fibroid was the size of a “baby’s head” and I needed to have it taken care of. It was unsafe to have a mass that large in my body. I had been feeling bloated and had to urinate frequently, but I just assumed these symptoms were the result of having two kids. Then, when I looked in the mirror more closely, I panicked. Did I really look pregnant? An ultrasound confirmed the presence of a very large uterine fibroid.
I knew very little about my treatment options.
My OB/GYN recommended surgery to remove the fibroid. Hysterectomy was also discussed. The surgery to remove fibroids is major surgery and I had two young children to care for. Hysterectomy was out of the question. I was in my early 40s. I was too young to go into immediate menopause. I asked her more questions about my options. She seemed uninterested in discussing any options other than surgery. She mentioned a non-invasive procedure called Uterine Fibroid Embolization, but said she didn’t know much about it.
I quickly began researching UFE on the Internet. My search led me to Cedars Sinai Hospital, which offered the procedure and the most comprehensive information on the subject.
Continued on the next page
Follow Technorati