If you hemorrhage after delivering your baby, your doctors will quickly need to stop postpartum bleeding. Unfortunately, many doctors decide to perform an emergency hysterectomy in this situation. Or, they offer preemptive care, removing fibroids while doing a cesarean section, preventing bleeding but rendering the women's subsequent pregnancies high risk. Luckily, there's a better, scientifically proven option: UAE, or Uterine Artery Embolization.
UAE, also called UFE or uterine fibroid embolization, is a minimally invasive interventional radiology treatment that our Georgia specialists deliver as fibroid treatment. It works by blocking block blood flow to the uterine arteries via the injection of embolic materials. For women with fibroids, this shrinks the non-cancerous uterine growths. And for women with postpartum bleeding, it can stop hemorrhaging without the need for hysterectomy.
An Emory University School of Medicine study revealed that more than 50% of doctors choose hysterectomy over UFE to stop postpartum bleeding. But that's a problem since the study also explains it that "UAE is safer and has an easier recovery than hysterectomy." Worse still, postpartum bleeding leads to many hysterectomies, since about 100,000 women in the US experience this problem each year. As such, it's crucial to promote alternative ways to stop postpartum bleeding.
Of the 1000 women in the study who experienced postpartum bleeding, 116 received blood transfusions, 20 received hysterectomies, and 13 women had UAE treatment. Even more worrying? Hispanic women, residents of rural communities, and women covered by Medicaid patients were most likely to receive a hysterectomy. As such, the study authors propose leveling the medical playing field by adding interventional radiologists to each hospital's maternal medicine team. The hope? To reduce the number of hysterectomies performed as a way to stop postpartum bleeding.
Our Georgia interventional radiologists don't provide postpartum care, but we do provide UAE as an alternative to hysterectomy when treating fibroids. Searching for more information on UAE for fibroid relief? Reach out to our office today! Just click here to request an appointment
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