There are several alternatives to the treatment of fibroids by hysterectomy. These are myomectomy, hormone treatment and uterine artery embolisation. Uterine artery embolisation is a process by which fibroids are starved of their blood supply by blocking the supplying arteries with small particles. The procedure can be carried out in the new interventional suite in St. Anthony's and is performed by a specialised vascular interventional radiologist.
Some sedation is given and the procedure is performed under local anaesthetic.
The catheter is guided to these arteries by the radiologist and a special X-ray dye is injected to identify the blood vessels. 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.