Interventional Radiologist Consultation

If you are experiencing signs and symptoms of uterine fibroids, you should discuss them first with your women’s health physician or gynecologist. Your doctor will examine you and could also conduct an ultrasound. If your doctor determines that you have uterine fibroids, you may be referred to an Interventional Radiologist to determine whether you are a candidate for uterine fibroid embolization (UFE).

An Interventional Radiologist is a medical doctor with additional education and training in addition to the required 4 years of a basic diagnostic radiology residency. These physicians are specialists who use radiologic imaging to guide their procedures. They treat disorders of the body using minimally invasive techniques and access the body through the blood vessels using catheters and other tiny instruments.

What To Bring To Your Consultation

If your OB/GYN has confirmed that you have uterine fibroids, and has referred you to an IR, there are some things that you will need to bring with you to the consultation. You should take a copy of your medical records as well as the imaging that has confirmed your fibroid tumors. If you recently had a gynecologic exam, it would be helpful to bring a copy of the results to your consult, as an OB/GYN exam can help rule out causes of non-fibroid symptoms.

What to Expect

During the consultation, the interventional radiologist will inform you of different steps in the treatment for uterine fibroids, how the procedure works, and the care you will receive during and after the uterine fibroid embolization procedure. He or she will evaluate your clinical symptoms as well as your medical history, and will perform a pelvic MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). This will determine better whether you are a good candidate for UFE based on the size and location of the uterine fibroid tumors as well as their blood supply. An MRI is an imaging study that, unlike an x-ray, does not use radiation. It provides detailed pictures of the uterine area. During the MRI, you will lie on a pelvic cushion with a belt-like device wrapped around the abdomen/pelvic area, and you will be asked not to move while the images are being taken. Once the results of the MRI are known, your IR will inform you of the options you have, and a UFE procedure can be scheduled. For more information, you can download our Patient Education Pamphlet.

You may also want to ask the interventional radiologist some questions that will help you understand UFE as a procedure, as well as gain a better understanding of how the physician will manage your case. Some questions you may want to ask include:

Please explain how you will coordinate my care with my OB/GYN.
Which OB/GYNs refer to you for UFE?
How often is the procedure successful in treating uterine fibroids?
Are your patients happy with the procedure?
How often do complications occur? What are typical complications?
How will I feel during and after the UFE procedure?
Do you use Embosphere® Microspheres (the first FDA cleared embolic for UFE)? If not, why?
How long should I expect to be away from work?
What are the outside boundaries of this time period typically expected to be? (Normal minimum/maximum).
How long should I expect to stay in the hospital?
What kind of follow-up care is typical and who manages it?
What typically happens to the fibroid tumors after the blood supply is cut off?
Should I expect them to be expelled vaginally or will the procedure simply result in my fibroids shrinking?
Will my fibroids, or symptoms of uterine fibroids, come back?
Will I still get my periods after having UFE and what will they be like?
Will this procedure affect my ability to have children in the future?
Will my insurance cover uterine fibroid embolization?
Can you help me determine if I am a candidate for UFE and when can we schedule the procedure?

For more information regarding treatment for uterine fibroids including uterine fibroid embolization, please read more about pre-procedure treatment, the UFE procedure, and what happens after UFE.

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Did not want a hysterectomy

Having uterine fibroids was very limiting for me. It limited activities, limited plans that I had...

Karen, age 43

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