Uterine Fibroid Embolization in India

Overview

Embolization refers to the passage of an embolus within the bloodstream. Embolus is defined as any moving mass inside the blood vessel. It can be in any form- solid, liquid or gas. The embolus moves with blood circulation and can block blood capillaries resulting in blockage of blood flow beyond it.

Embolization can be pathological, which can be because of any complication of surgery or disease or can be therapeutic, which is for treatment purpose. Embolization can be used to treat bleeding or to treat tumours or few forms of cancer by deliberately blocking the blood vessels.

Therapeutic embolization is a minimally invasive alternative to surgery. The idea behind Embolization is to block blood flow to the tumour resulting in its shrinkage and death or block blood supply to an aneurysm.

There are a number of advantages of Embolization and thus is becoming fast popular:

Embolization does not require any surgical incision, only a small nick and thus no stitches, no chances of infection, no general anaesthesia and no risks associated with surgery
Hospital stay is much shorter and so is the recovery time resulting in fast getting back to work
The success rate with embolization is same as that of surgery

Two most popular Embolization treatments are:

Uterine Fibroid Embolization
Varicocele Embolization

Uterine Artery Embolization

Uterine Artery Embolization (UAE) also known as uterine fibroid embolization (UFE) is the minimally invasive surgical procedure for treating fibroids in the uterus. Uterine fibroids are noncancerous growth developed from the smooth muscle tissue (myometrium) of the uterus and produce symptoms like heavy menstrual flow, prolonged menses, frequent urination, constipation, back or leg pains, difficulty in emptying the bladder, pain in pelvic area.

Uterine Artery Embolization is considered as a novel and non-invasive approach for the treatment of such fibroids in contrast to other traditional and minimally invasive approaches for treating the fibroids. This procedure aims at blocking the arteries which supply blood to the fibroids to let them shrink and die ultimately.

Varicocele causes no signs or symptoms (it rarely causes pain) and thus goes unnoticed until you get yourself examined for infertility treatment or get a routine physical check-up. However, if you feel pain or swelling in the scrotum, or find a mass on your scrotum; you should see a doctor immediately. Varicocele can be diagnosed by physical examination or through an ultrasound.

Varicocele embolization

A varicocele is an enlarged and lengthened vein in a man's scrotum, which can cause pain and lead to shrinkage of testicles. In healthy veins in scrotum, one way valves in blood vessels allows blood to flow from testicles and scrotum back to the heart. But in varicoceles, the valves in the blood vessels do not function properly resulting in backflow of the blood resulting in pooling of the blood thereby enlarging the vein.

Infertility experts believe that the raised temperature because of the pooled blood results in low sperm count, poor sperm motility and increase the number of deformed sperms.

There are many procedures and techniques to correct this; of which varicocele embolization is a novel procedure. Varicocele Embolization is a minimally invasive procedure done by interventional radiologist under fluoroscopy during which the blood flow to the dysfunctional vein is stopped.

Candidates

Uterine Artery Embolization:

If you are diagnosed with the uterine fibroids and suffering from severe pain and heavy menstrual flow due to fibroids, if you are premenopausal and wish to keep your uterus, if future pregnancy is your main concern and if you want to avoid surgery, uterine arterial embolization is the right choice for you.

Varicocele Embolization:

If you are diagnosed with the Varicocele and you are suffering from discomforting pain which is getting worse, you should go for Varicocele embolization surgery.

Procedure

Uterine Artery Embolization

UAE/ UFE is the minimally invasive procedure usually performed under local anaesthesia in a fluoroscopy room by an interventional radiologist. The surgeon begins by making a small incision in skin near the groin to access the femoral artery. The catheter is then inserted in the artery and advanced towards the uterine artery following which contrast fluid containing iodine is injected which flows through the uterine artery and its branches helping to map the fibroids which appear on the fluoroscope monitor.

After gaining proper access of the uterine artery that is supplying blood to the fibroids, the surgeon injects small particles into the blood vessels which are made of plastic or gelatine. After several minutes the arteries are blocked and again the arteriogram (injections with contrast material) is done to make sure that blood flow to the fibroids is blocked. Then the same procedure is repeated for the other uterine artery.

The procedure usually takes about 1 or 1 and half hour to complete.

Varicocele Embolization:

Varicocele Embolization is performed under local anaesthesia during which a small incision or a puncture is made in skin of the groin area. A catheter is then inserted in the underlying vein and advanced towards the testicular vein.

The dye is then injected for mapping the area of problem to determine the site that needs to be blocked or embolized. The blood flow to the vein is then blocked using coils or balloons and the blood flow is redirected to other normal pathways. The procedure usually takes 2 hours to complete.

Recovery

You may experience mild to severe pain, fatigue low grade fever, nausea after the procedure which is resolved soon. Your catheter will be removed the next day and you will be encouraged to walk around. Recovery is rapid and you can resume your routine activities in a week's time. Rigorous activities need to wait for around 6-8 weeks.

Results

The results of Embolization are good and you can expect complete relief from your symptoms after 8-10 weeks of the procedure.

Time & Cost

You would stay at the hospital for a day and another week in India for recovery. So, a total of 8-10 days are required for Embolization procedure in India.

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Embolization