CORPUS CHRISTI — About 200,000 women have their uterus removed every year due to severe symptoms and one in four women of reproductive age suffer from fibroids.
Caroline — who asked us not to mention her last name — told us her experience.
"My gynocologist had told me that eventually I would need to have a hysterectomy, but given my circumstances with work and my personal life, it just wasn't feasible at the time," she said.
Caroline was diagnosed with fibroids and said she wanted to avoid getting a big procedure, so she looked into uterine fibroid embolization.
"I wanted to look into it a little more. I called Dr. (Llwellyn) Lee to schedule a consultation to see if I was a candidate, and here we are today," Caroline said.
Uterine fibroid embolization is a pretty popular procedure in bigger cities like Houston and Dallas.
Dr. Llwellyn Lee, Vascular & Interventional Radiologist at the VAS Center is now the only vascular and interventional radiologist performing the procedure right here in the coastal bend.
"It's about a 30 minute procedure, you go into the artery that feeds the uterus, into the fibroids, sort of starve the fibroids of blood, in about 3-6 months most of the fibroids are resolved," he said.
Thousands of women are given the main option to get hysterectomy, but this procedure helps reduce pain and the lengthy recovery process.
This procedure also gives women who want to have children a better chance.
"A lot of the women come in and say they have never heard of it and they had to find it themselves, we are just trying to increase education, my goal is to just try and be partners with the women health providers in the community," he said.
