Awareness is the key to everything to inform the public about a critical women’s health condition that impacts so many.  The focus is on empowering women with more information about fibroid disease and available methods of treatment.

What are uterine fibroids and symptoms:

Uterine fibroids are benign, non cancerous growths of the uterus commonly seen in women of child bearing age.While some fibroids cause no symptoms at all, others can impact women’s overall well-being and interfere with daily activities by causing:

• Increase in menstrual cramps 
• Heavy menstrual bleeding sometimes associated with clots 
• Menstruation that lasts longer than usual
• Back pain,leg pain
• Abdominal swelling /protrusion
• Pressure symptoms such as Urinary and bowel problems 
• Complications with fertility, pregnancy, and childbirth
• Experiencing pain during intercourse

For some women, repeated heavy bleeding month after month becomes dangerous enough to require blood transfusions.All of these above symptoms affect women’s  quality of life which in turn can impact their mental health ,social and professional life.

Treatment options :

There are numerous treatment options, both surgical and non-surgical. For years, the standard of care for fibroids included surgical procedures such as a myomectomy  and hysterectomy(uterus removal). In some cases, they still are the right treatment,but most women don’t realize that there are less invasive options to treat fibroid and related symptoms. Uterine fibroid embolisation (UFE)is one such unique procedure in today’s world of evolving technology which is a minimally invasive and low risk non surgical procedure.

Uterine fibroid embolisation:

Uterine fibroids when symptomatic usually have dilated uterine arteries that predominantly feed fibroids.Uterine fibroid embolisation (UFE) uses this to its advantage wherein the interventional radiologists access these uterine arteries. Through a tiny incision in the skin, a catheter is guided via imaging to the vessels leading to the fibroids and inject micron particles to block the blood flow to uterine fibroids. This causes fibroids to shrink over a period of time , with immediate and dramatic reduction in symptoms related to fibroids.

Women who decide to undergo the UFE procedure typically get back to work and their normal activities between 7 to 10 days after the procedure, a much shorter recovery time compared to traditional surgery.

Additional advantages of UFE include:

– Treat multiple fibroids at once

– No scars /stitches on the abdomen

– No requirement of general anesthesia

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has recognised uterine artery embolization (UFE) as a safe and effective procedure.  ACOG has recommended UFE as an alternative to hysterectomy for women with symptomatic fibroids who wish to keep their uterus.

Uterine fibroid embolization is usually best suited for women who have completed their family as there is limited data on outcome on reproductive life.

To conclude,in today’s world with advancing technology and health care systems, it is a disservice to women to not provide all the information needed for an informed decision. Fibroid awareness month is not just an initiative in spreading awareness about fibroid related issues but also to take action and know ways to treat fibroid improving women health.