Once the radiologist has located the blood supply, he or she can inject fluids containing thousands of tiny particles into the artery and these particles silt up the small blood vessels and block them, so starving the fibroid of its blood supply. Hospital stay is usually one to two days and the patient is advised to take at least two weeks off work. It is recommended that women with symptomatic fibroids should be seen, in the first instance, by a gynaecologist. If it is deemed appropriate, the embolisation procedure should then be undertaken by a radiologist with specialised embolisation experience. More than 7,000 uterine artery embolisation procedures to treat fibroids have been undertaken since 1991.
Complications occur but are rare.
One of the most significant complications is of severe infection which can occur up to three months following the procedure. Severe infection has been associated with one death following the procedure, and in cases of severe infection a hysterectomy may be necessary. Lesser degrees of infection are treated with antibiotics, and sometimes minor gynaecological procedures are also necessary. The other main complication is that menopausal changes have been noted following the procedure. Better and longer term data are necessary, but it is believed that once the fibroids have shrunk they do not grow back, and it also appears that new fibroids do not form.