Why Do Women with Uterine Fibroids Experience Heavy Menstrual Bleeding

Fibroids are extraordinarily common. One in four women has fibroids and 40% of African-American women have fibroids. Fibroids are benign. However, even though they’re benign, they can present with two major problems: heavy bleeding and what we call bulk symptoms – pressure, pain, bloating, and discomfort. The reason that there is heavy bleeding is that fibroids have an extraordinarily rich blood supply. Each month during a woman’s cycle, when the inner lining sloughs, the fibroids could expose. It can result in heavy bleeding. By doing minimally invasive procedures such as Uterine Fibroid Embolization, our goal is to block those vessels which are responsible for the bleeding and therefore stop the symptoms.