Uterine Fibroid Embolization / Uterine Artery Embolization (UFE or UAE) in NJ for minimally invasive treatment of fibroids

Atlantic Medical Imaging (AMI) Vascular and Interventional Center Now offer minimally invasive cutting edge treatment for women with painful or bleeding uterine fibroids!

For details on the procedure you can visit www.ami-ir.com

Did you know?

There is hope other than hysterectomy or hormonal therapy for women with painful and/or bleeding fibroids!

Uterine Fibroid Disease – Alternative to Hysterectomy

Uterine fibroids are common non-cancerous growths that develop in the muscular wall of the uterus. In most cases, there is more than one fibroid in the uterus. While fibroids do not always cause symptoms, their size and location can lead to problems for some women, including pain and heavy bleeding.

Fibroids can dramatically increase in size during pregnancy. They typically improve after menopause when the level of estrogen, the female hormone that circulates in the blood, decreases dramatically. However, menopausal women who are taking supplemental estrogen (hormone replacement therapy) may not experience relief of symptoms.

You might hear them referred to as “fibroids” or by several other names, including leiomyoma, leiomyomata, myoma and fibromyoma. Fibroid tumors of the uterus are very common, but for most women, they do not cause symptoms or cause only minor symptoms.

Prevalence of Fibroids

Twenty to 40 percent of women age 35 and older have uterine fibroids of a significant size. African American women are at a higher risk for fibroids: as many as 50 percent have fibroids of a significant size. Uterine fibroids are the most frequent indication for hysterectomy in premenopausal women and, therefore, are a major public health issue. Of the 600,000 hysterectomies performed annually in the United States, one-third are due to fibroids.

Uterine Fibroid Symptoms

Most fibroids don’t cause symptoms—only 10 to 20 percent of women who have fibroids require treatment. Depending on size, location and number of fibroids, they may cause:

• Heavy, prolonged periods and excessive monthly bleeding, sometimes with clots
• Anemia from heavy bleeding
• Pelvic pressure and/or pain
• Pain in the back and/or legs
• Pain during sexual intercourse
• Bladder pressure leading to a frequent urge to urinate
• Pressure on the bowel, leading to constipation and bloating

Imaging Fibroids and Interventional Radiologists Image Guided Procedures

Women typically undergo an ultrasound at their gynecologist’s office as part of the evaluation process to determine the presence of uterine fibroids. This often does not show other underlying diseases or all the existing fibroids. For this reason, MRI is the standard imaging tool used by interventional radiologists.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) improves the patient selection for who should receive nonsurgical uterine fibroid embolization (UFE) or Uterine Artery Embolization (UAE) to kill their tumors. Interventional radiologists can use MRIs to determine if a tumor can be embolized, detect alternate causes for the symptoms, identify pathology that could prevent a women from having UFE and avoid ineffective treatments.

Second Opinion Prior to Hysterectomy

Patients considering surgical treatment should also get a second opinion from an interventional radiologist, who is most qualified to interpret the MRI and determine if they are candidates for the interventional procedure.

Visit www.ami-ir.com for more info