They were the first in Charlotte to try the new treatment, which is attracting the attention of women who wish to avoid hysterectomy. Jones was their second patient. Doctors at Carolinas Medical Center are waiting for more research results before deciding whether to offer the procedure. Across the country, some doctors are concerned that heavy promotion of uterine artery embolization by doctors and medical groups on news programs and on the Internet makes women think it is an established treatment. Common and familial Any woman of reproductive age can get fibroids, but they are most common in women over 35.
Fibroids run in families, but the cause is unknown.
In most cases, they cause no symptoms and require no treatment. But they can cause several problems, such as dangerously heavy menstrual bleeding, severe pelvic pain and possibly infertility and miscarriage. Up to half of women of childbearing age may have fibroids. More than 200,000 U.S. women have hysterectomies each year because of fibroids. The newest treatment, embolization, has been used successfully for more than 20 years to treat heavy bleeding after childbirth.