Minimally invasive procedure treats uterine fibroids

BALTIMORE - It's a painful condition that can cause women to have severe stomach pain and heavy bleeding.

But there’s a medical procedure that's relieving the pain from uterine fibroids.

Naomi Rawlings is breathing a sigh of relief. Her life is a lot different than what it used to be. Naomi says, "I would come home and I would just collapse."

Naomi had uterine fibroids, 15 of them, non-cancerous tumors in her uterus. They caused severe bloating and painful periods. She says, "I had to plan all of my activities around my bleeding. Working at a hospital it's easy, I can run to the bathroom. But if I was out with family or out in public, it was more difficult just in case I had a heavy bleed."

Naomi underwent a procedure called uterine fibroid embolization or UFE. It's a less invasive alternative to a hysterectomy.

Dr. Ziv Haskal of Good Samaritan Hospital explains how it works. He says, "It's done by an interventional radiologist that means I'm not a surgeon. I do things with tiny little tubes the size of a tip of a pencil and we thread it to the arteries that feed the fibroids and block off the blood supply to those fibroids so those fibroids will shrink."

The benefits of UFE are less pain and fewer complications. Dr. Haskal says, "So the recovery from a uterine fibroid embolization is typically one week off from work although you're up and out of bed the very next day. Back in the car, back to driving, want take a one mile walk, absolutely. And that's very different from often what's 6 weeks off from a hysterectomy."

For Naomi, it healed her biggest problems. She says, "No more bloating. All of my clothes fit, my tight jeans fit, everything fits. I feel like a woman."

There will be a free seminar on this topic at Good Samaritan Hospital on June 16th and 6 PM. To register, call 443-444-4100.