UFE is performed by one of our interventional radiologists at the Huntington Hospital, a doctor who uses X-rays and other imaging techniques to see inside the body and treat conditions without surgery.

During UFE, you will be given pain medications; but you will remain awake. The radiologist inserts a small tube called a catheter through a small nick in your skin into an artery at the top of the thigh. Using X-ray imaging, the catheter is guided into the uterine artery. Then tiny round particles, known as microspheres, are injected through the catheter into the blood vessels leading to the fibroids. The microspheres block blood flow to the fibroids. This results in both fibroid shrinkage and symptom relief. The microspheres remain permanently in the blood vessels at the fibroid site. This process is repeated in the other uterine artery so that the blood flow feeding the fibroid is completely blocked.