Suzanne Slonim will ensure that you are in good hands before, during, and after your UFE procedure. She explains that they will routinely have a month and six-month follow up:

“You’re probably going to have my cell phone number, you’ll have my office number. If you have any questions or concerns that often come up in the first week, you can call me directly, or call my office if you can’t reach me on my cell phone. The issues are usually pain, nausea, sometimes itching, sometimes constipation. We routinely have you come back at about one month for a follow-up visit, and then we like to get a six month follow up MRI.”

See Dr. Linda Hughes’ answer to this question.

 

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Uterine fibroids embolization is a less invasive procedure with a short recovery time and low risk of complications. The doctors that perform your treatment will make sure you are ready to go home before they discharge you. Dr. Suzanne Slonim, M.D., explains:

“You’ll stay in the hospital overnight. Almost every woman goes home the following day, usually in the early afternoon. We’ve had one woman have to stay longer than one night, and that was because of nausea and some pain control, we kept her just to make sure that she was going to be okay.”

See Dr. Linda Hughes’ answer to this question.

 

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The recovery time after having a Uterine Fibroid Embolization procedure done is relatively quick. According to Dr. Suzanne Slonim, most women are back to work within a week:

“Most women stay off of work for a week, now the literature says that you won’t really feel back to normal for about 10 days, but most women do return at one week. I’ve had a woman go back at three days, I’ve had a woman stay out two weeks, I will support whatever you need to do, I will write whatever paper work needs to be done, but again the vast majority go back at a week.”

See Dr. Linda Hughes’ answer to this question.

 

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Dr. Slonim explains why she chooses to use Embosphere Microspheres for her UFEs:

“We only use Embospheres. There have been times through the years when new products have come out, and we have trialed them because we do want to be sure that we’re always up to date on the best technology, but every time we’ve trialed something else we’ve been dissatisfied, and we’ve returned to the Embospheres.”

See Dr. Linda Hughes’ answer to this question.

 

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Dr. Slonim doesn’t believe in pain or suffering and will do her best to make sure you are comfortable. She explains exactly what will happen and how you will feel during the procedure from start to finish:

“So, before the procedure you’re probably going to be nervous. I’m going to give you medicine to make you relaxed before we go into the procedure. During the procedure you’re going to be asleep. You probably, you’ll have no memory of the procedure at all. After the procedure, my goal is for you to not have pain.

“I don’t believe in pain, I don’t believe in suffering, so I’m going to stand at your bedside, and have the nurse give you medicine until you’re asleep. You’re going to have one of those pumps where you push a button and it gives yourself a dose. So, I’ll give you enough medicine until you’re asleep, and then from that point on, you push the button you get a dose. I want you to sleep all afternoon.

“I’m going to tell your family members, who are there with you, that they’re going to be bored all day because you’re going to be asleep. As the day goes on to evening, you probably won’t need to push the button as often, you’ll be drowsy, you’ll be asleep, you’re not going to remember most of that afternoon.

“The following day your pain is going to be much better than it was during the whole afternoon of the procedure. You’ll probably have some nausea and you’ll go home the next day.”

See Dr. Linda Hughes’ answer to this question.

 

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85% to 95% of patients say they are very satisfied after having their UFE procedure. A lot of that satisfaction is attributed to well-communicated expectations about the procedure and symptoms between the doctor and patient. Dr. Suzanne Slonim agreed with this statistic concerning her own patients:

“Nearly invariably, yes they are. The patients are usually very satisfied. I think a lot of it is managing expectations. I go through very specifically how the procedure’s going to go, what they’re going to feel, what they’re going to experience and how long the symptoms are going to last and what to expect after the procedure.

So, most women, if you look nationwide through the literature, 85-95% of women are satisfied with the procedure.”

See Dr. Linda Hughes’ answer to this question.

 

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Often patients are referred for a UFE from their personal OB/GYNs. Dr. Slonim explains further:

“I get referrals from each of the hospitals that I work at and the OB/GYNs around those hospitals. But every now and then I’ll get some from North Dallas, East Dallas. The nature of this procedure and the fact that women often look on the internet to find out information about it means that they go to their physician asking about it, and then if the physician knows that we do a lot of these procedures she’ll usually send them to us.”

 

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Uterine fibroid embolization (UFE) is a treatment that requires open communication between the patient, her interventional radiologist and her OB/GYN. To accommodate the patient’s needs and to make it as easy as possible for everyone involved, this is how Dr. Slonim coordinates care with her patients’ OB/GYNs.

“Usually if that question is being asked, it means that the OB/GYN has sent you to me. So after I meet you, and hear what the issues are, do a physical exam and evaluate if you’re a good candidate for the UFE procedure, I’ll then either send a consultation note, or get on the phone and talk to your OB/GYN and discuss the issues of the case, and how the decision is made of whether to proceed with the UFE procedure, or something else.”

 

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UFE is a relatively quick and less invasive treatment, and often you are sent home the same day, depending on where you have the procedure. Dr. Linda Hughes, M.D., describes more about this process.

“The typical uterine fibroid embolization procedure is done under what we call a twilight sedation or moderate sedation, where patients are given Versed to make them sleepy and Fetanyl which is for pain control. The procedure can take anywhere from 30-60 minutes and what we typically do is, using sterile technique, we numb up the tissues in the right groin, in the hip area. We make a little tiny nick in the skin, and we insert a catheter, which is like IV tubing.

“Under x-ray through that catheter we inject a dye, and we get a road map to see what the blood supply looks like to the fibroid tissue. Typically it comes from both the left and the right uterine arteries, that you need to embolize both of those in order to have a successful result. Once we identify the abnormal blood vessels to be embolized under x-ray, we’re able to guide the catheter into the uterine arteries. We confirm that we’re in a safe spot and then we inject our gelatin beads. We do the left side, we do the right side, and we take a final picture to confirm that we’ve treated all of the branches that we think are necessary.

“After that, typically patients are on bed rest between three to six hours, and depending on if it’s an outpatient center, are discharged home later that day. In a hospital environment they will be discharged home after breakfast the next morning.”

See Dr. Suzanne Slonim’s answer to this question.

 

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Depending on the size, location, and types of your fibroids, there may be different treatment options that will work best for you. Dr. Linda Hughes, M.D., explains when a myomectomy may be the better choice.

“Fibroids are made out of smooth muscle. The uterus is a smooth muscle organ, and the myometrium of the wall of the uterus is typically where fibroids grow. In a small percentage of women, they can have what are called pedunculated fibroids that grow on a stalk. Typically, the stalk tends to be like a mushroom where it has a broad base and the fibroid is the mushroom cap. That is a safe fibroid for us to embolize, because when you cut the blood flow off, it’s going to shrink and retract into the wall of the uterus.

“In a very small percentage of women, the stalk can be thin like a lollipop. So you have a thin stalk and the top of the lollipop is actually the fibroid. In that situation, an embolization is probably not the most appropriate, because there is the potential for the thin stalk to snap off and for the fibroid to be rolling around in the belly, and can cause peritonitis and pain.

“In this day and age we have MRIs that we do on every woman prior to an embolization to assess the size, number and location of the fibroids. So, there are situations where either we’ll say it’s not appropriate for us to do the embolization, or there are situations where we’ll do the embolization in conjunction with the gynecologist, and laparoscopically they can remove that one thin pedunculated fibroid if that needs to be done.”

See Dr. Suzanne Slonim’s answer to this question.

 

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