Black women experience an epidemiologically high rate of uterine fibroids (up to 3 times more frequent in blacks than whites) and increased severity (large size, high quantity) leading to menorrhagia, distended lower abdomen, anemia, bladder compression, and bowel complications. Morbidity from fibroids among blacks continues to pose significant negative public health consequences on professional and social quality of life. Severe chronic fibroid symptoms are classically resolved by complete removal of the uterus (accounting for from 20-30% of all U.S. hysterectomies) or by excision of fibroids from uterine bed (myomectomy). While hysterectomies may prematurely induce menopause symptoms, cumulative risk studies corroborate that fibroid recurrence in myomectomized patients increases over time, with potentially up to a 50% risk of regrowth after 5 years, subsequently leading recurrent cases to opt for hysterectomy. In recent years, uterine fibroid embolization, a minimally invasive procedure, has been demonstrated to be an alternative primary therapy for the successful treatment of fibroids. It involves the new application of a traditional procedure routinely used on organs throughout the body to prophylactically induce ischemia. This paper discusses the technique and the combined need for targeted public health outreach for black women struggling with fibroids and need for increased physician education to reduce unnecessary hysterectomies by identifying cases appropriate for uterine fibroid embolization.
Learning Objectives: 1. Assess with risks associated with Uterine Fibroid Embolization in comparison to hysterectomy and myomectomy. 2. Recognize the increased epidemiologic risk of fibroids among black women. 3. Discuss how premenopausal black women who have had fibroids fear that estrogen replacement therapy could trigger tumor growth. 4. Identify race differences in fibroid growth
Keywords: Alternative Medicine/Therapies, Women's Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.