[Clinical 3-year follow-up of uterine fibroid embolization]

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical long-term success of uterine artery embolization (UAE) in patients with symptomatic fibroids using spherical particles (Embosphere).

34 consecutive patients treated with UAE were initially enrolled in the study which had the following study goals 1) 1-year follow-up MRI evaluation of the fibroid behavior and 2) clinical long-term success due to standardized assessment of the main fibroid-related symptoms (hypermenorrhoea, dysmenorrhoea and dysuria) of the patients' individual overall health status and their therapy satisfaction at 1-year, 2- year and 3-year intervals after UAE.

Technical success was achieved in all procedures. Four patients had to be excluded from the long-term evaluation schedule: one because of a hysterectomy due to bleeding after 6 weeks, 3 patients were not available for the designated minimum follow-up interval. The preinterventional severe hypermenorrhoea (n = 27) with a score of 4.4 +/- 0.7 (5 = extreme menstrual bleeding) decreased after one year to 2.1 +/- 0.5 (p = 0.0001), after two years to 1.7 +/- 0.5 (p = 0.0042) and after three years to 1.3 +/- 0.6 (p = 0.0001). The preinterventional dysmenorrhoea (n = 15) with a score of 3.1 +/- 1.5 (3 = distinctly increased dysmenorrhoea) decreased after one year to 1.1 +/- 0.3 (p = 0.0001), after two years to 1.2 +/- 0.2 and after three years to 1.2 +/- 0.4 (p = 0.148). The pretreatment dysuria (n = 12) with a preinterventional score of 3.1 +/- 1.5 (3 = distinctly increased dysuria) decreased after one year to 1.1 +/- 0.3 (p = 0.0069) and remained after two years at 1.1 +/- 0.2 and after three years at 1.2 +/- 0.4 (p = 0.905). The initial overall health status was 54.7 +/- 20.1 (maximal value 100). After one year it rised to 90.5 +/- 15.4 (p = 0.0001), was 91.8 +/- 5.6 after two years and was 91.3 +/- 8.5 (p = 0.8578) after three years. The satisfaction with the therapy was 2.9 +/- 0.2 after one year, 2.6 +/- 0.3 after two years and 2.7 +/- 0.5 (3 = extremely satisfied) after three years. We observed 12 minor and 3 major complications (one hysterectomy, one fibroid expulsion associated with a short bleeding episode and one transient amenorrhoea for three months). All patients benefited clinically from the procedure and a clinical benefit was achieved in all cases.

Under controlled study conditions, flow-guided UAE with spherical embolization particles achieves high clinical success for all relevant clinical symptoms without negative changes during follow-up after at least 3 years. Accordingly, patient therapy satisfaction remained extraordinarily high even 3 years after UAE.