U.S. Food and Drug Administration
FDA Consumer magazine
November-December 2001
Table of Contents

picture showing a fibroid in the uterus, the uterine artery and femoral artery, and how the catheter is inserted.

One of the newest procedures to treat symptomatic fibroids (noncancerous tumors) is uterine fibroid embolization. A radiologist makes a small nick in the skin (less than one-quarter inch) and inserts a thin tube (catheter) into the main artery of the thigh (femoral artery). Using X-ray imaging, the radiologist guides the catheter through the femoral artery into the uterine artery. Tiny balls made of plastic or gelatin sponge the size of grains of sand are pumped through the catheter into the uterine artery on one side of the body, where they block the blood supply to the fibroids. The procedure is then repeated on the other side of the body so the blood supply is blocked in both the right and left uterine arteries. Without blood, the fibroids shrink and die.

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Web page created by clb 2001-OCT-29.