Clinical Efficacy and resize of uterine fibroid by Uterine Artery Embolization (UAE) method in patients with Symptomatic Uterine Fibroids

Background: Treatment options for uterine myomas include treatments such as gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists and surgical interventions such as myomectomy. One of the relatively new interventions available to treat of such tumors is uterine artery embolization (UAE). The present study was performed to evaluate the clinical efficacy and resize of uterine fibroids by uterine artery embolization (UAE) in patients with symptomatic fibroids. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted from September 2016 to March 2018. Patients with symptomatic uterine fibroids were referred to the Interventional Radiology Center of Ahvaz Golestan Hospital by a gynecologist and underwent UAE. The results of clinical efficacy including AUB, pain and anemia, as well as fibroid resizing after 12 months of uterine arterial embolization were evaluated. Results: 69 patients who underwent UAE were between the ages of 29 to 44, the mean age was 35.65 years with a standard deviation of 4.08. The mean size of fibroids in the subjects was equal to 489.13 mm(3) with a standard deviation of 150.76, , which in the follow-up of 12 months later was equal to 164.82 mm(3) with a standard deviation of 132.80, which showed a significant relationship in terms of fibroid size change after UAE. (P<0.05). The results of this study also showed that the clinical efficacy in terms of AUB, pain and improvement of anemia were about 82.6-91.3% on average, which indicates the success of this method of treatment for uterine fibroids patients. Also, at follow-up 12 months after UAE, an average size reduction of 74% was reported in the tested patients. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that UAE is a successful treatment for uterine fibroids and due to its lower cost and postoperative complications than myomectomy or hysterectomy it can be a suitable alternative for the treatment of uterine fibroids.