In a perfect world there would be no wars, the people who we love, love us back and fibroids would not exist. Well, one out of three isn’t bad.
Bronx, New York’s Montefiore Medical Center has become the first hospital in the United States to use a medical procedure called Radio Frequency Ablation to shrink uterine fibroids. The procedure was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration late last year.
Fibroids are benign tumors that grow in the uterus. They effect about one-third of all women and develop primarily in the reproductive years. African-American women are two to three times more likely to get fibroids than women of other races. Symptoms of fibroids are painful, heavy bleeding during menses, pressure in the pelvis area, infertility, pain during intercourse, abdominal bloating, frequent urination, backache and hormonal imbalances which can cause mood changes.
The procedure is minimally invasive and consists of the use of a tiny needle inserted through the abdomen which then emits a low-energy electrical current directly to the fibroid, shrinking it, often times completely destroying it The procedure is also used in the treatment of liver cancer, making it doubly valuable.
Fibroids are the leading cause of hysterectomies, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, responsible for more than 200,000 hysterectomies performed in the United States each year for women in search of relief…200,000!
Radio frequency ablation allows the surgeon to treat only the fibroids while leaving the uterus intact and preserving its normal functions.
One would think this type of breakthrough in women’s health would be broadcasted from the highest rooftops and written about in every medical journal in existence, but information is scarce. A sad testament of the medical profession’s lack of concern for women’s quality-of-life health issues.
But you can spread the word.
Please go to Montefiore Medical Center for more information.
