An alternative solution: Alaska radiologists perform less invasive surgery on uterine fibroids.

• Author: Komancheck, Wendy
• Position: HEALTH & MEDICINE

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With a life full of family and work obligations, at the same time, women sometimes have to deal with serious reproductive health issues. While bustling through life, some women in their 40s may begin to experience lower back pain, feelings of fullness, heavy and painful periods, bleeding between periods and other discomforts that may indicate uterine fibroids.

OPTIONS FOR UTERINE FIBROID REMOVAL

According to Medline Plus, www.nlm. nih.gov/medlineplus/print/uterinefibroids.html, "Uterine fibroids are the most common non-cancerous tumors in women of childbearing age. Fibroids are made of muscle cells and other tissues that grow in and around the wall of the uterus, or womb. The cause of fibroids is unknown. Risk factors include being African-American or being overweight."

Uterine fibroid treatment has evolved over the years. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), www.nih. gov, says that 30 years ago, "Very little was known about fibroids, and how to prevent or medically treat them. The symptoms of fibroids not only resulted in lost days of work but often resulted in surgical treatments such as hysterectomy."

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The good news today is that women have a host of choices they may not have realized for uterine fibroid treatment. Dr. Larry Wood, a radiologist with Alaska Imaging Associates and Alaska Regional Hospital in Anchorage, says that referrals to his practice for uterine fibroid embolization (UFE) "... comes and goes. We get about 20 to 25 total per year. The cases are mostly sent by gynecologists. A lot of gynecologists have different opinions of when these treatments are appropriate. It's a pattern of referral and insurance."

Wood explains that insurance companies didn't always cover UFE, since the procedure didn't become an accepted practice until the mid- to late-1990s. He also says that this change has come about because it's "driven by what patients want."

He adds that gynecologists perform hysterectomies, but if they inform women of all of their treatment options, the number of hysterectomies gynecologists perform will be impacted. Unfortunately, some gynecologists hesitate to offer all the options, including UFE, because of surgical competition.

Yet Wood says that research shows UFE isn't a "... replacement for hysterectomies, but something for ladies to choose and discuss with their gynecologists. Cost to businesses is quite less (for the UFE procedure)."

NIH confirms Wood's opinion. The...