Gynaecologists and Uterine Artery Embolisation.

New Survey Reveals Too Many Patients Not Informed by Their Gynaecologists about Uterine Artery Embolisation.

U.A.E. is a procedure which has a success rate of well over 90% and a much lower complication rate than any form of surgery yet it is self-evident that patients are not being informed adequately about the technique by their Gynaecologist. This means that many patients are suffering complications of hysterectomies and myomectomies unnecessarily.

We carried out a survey of 100 middle aged women who I had previously treated using Fibroid Embolisation. This was a highly selective group of people who had either been referred by Gynaecologists sympathetic to Fibroid Embolisation or had managed to fight their way through the system. We found that of the patients who had U.A.E. treatment, 23% were not informed by their Gynaecologist about the Fibroid Embolisation technique. Of that 23%, 74% of patients obtained information about Fibroid Embolisation through the internet, 13% from friends, 4% from a Sonographer and the rest from other sources. Obviously this is a highly selective group of patients who managed to obtain U.A.E.

From this, it must be self-evident that because this is a favourable group in terms of patients obtaining U.A.E., that in the country as a whole far too many patients, and from discussions with other Radiologists and Gynaecologists, I think this figure is likely to be at least 75%, are not being properly informed by Gynaecologists nor are patients having a consultation with an Interventional Radiologist who carries out the procedure. This is despite the fact that this procedure having been recognised by all Colleges in the United Kingdom and United States has been approved by NICE and given an A Rating on the NHS. Further details can be found on this website.