Symptomatic Uterine Fibroids: Treatment with Uterine Artery Embolization or Hysterectomy — Results from the Randomized Clinical Embolization versus Hysterectomy (EMMY) Trial

Uterine artery embolization (UAE) significantly improves quality of life for patients with uterine fibroids and is a good alternative to hysterectomy, researchers have found.

In a follow-up survey of 177 women who underwent either UAE or hysterectomy to treat symptomatic uterine fibroids, Wouter J.K. Hehenkamp, M.D., of the Academic Medical Centre Amsterdam, and colleagues found both treatments resulted in significant improvement of health-related quality of life.

The researchers evaluated factors including general mental and physical health, urinary dysfunction, defecation dysfunction and overall patient satisfaction up to 2 years following either procedure. They found that women who underwent UAE had significantly better survey scores at 6 weeks and women who underwent hysterectomy were significantly more satisfied at 24 weeks. Employed patients demonstrated a greater overall improvement in physical health than unemployed patients.

"Since UAE and hysterectomy are interventions which are very different from each other, comparison can be difficult," Dr. Hehenkamp and colleagues write. "One measure which is very suitable for the comparison of both treatments is health-related quality of life." UAE is a good alternative to hysterectomy for treating symptomatic uterine fibroids, they concluded, because of its shorter recovery time and fewer long-term risks.

Graphs show SF-36 MCS (a) and PCS (b) scores.
Physical health was worse in patients who required secondary hysterectomy during follow-up compared with that in patients who did not require secondary hysterectomy. This was not the case for mental health.

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Media Coverage of Radiology

In January, media outlets carried 156 news stories generated by articles appearing in Radiology and studies presented at the annual meeting. These stories reached an estimated 18 million people.

Print coverage included placements in The Guardian (London, U.K.), Fidelity+, Pensacola News Journal, Diagnostic Imaging, RT Image and Radiology Today. Broadcast coverage included placements on KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV (Los Angeles), WRAL-TV (Raleigh, N.C.), KYW-TV (Philadelphia), WJZ-TV (Baltimore) and WTVF-TV (Nashville, Tenn.). Web placements included Red Orbit, Auntminnie.com, Healthimaging.com and Medinews.com.

A press release has been sent to the medical news media for the following article appearing in the March issue of Radiology (RSNA.org/radiology):

March Public Information Activities Focus on Colorectal Cancer

To highlight National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month in March, RSNA distributed radio public service announcements (PSAs) encouraging listeners to be screened for colorectal cancer.

The "60-Second Checkup" radio segments in March also focused on colorectal cancer topics, including the use of virtual colonoscopy as a screening tool. "60-Second Checkup" segments are brief interviews with radiology experts that are distributed to participating radio stations in the U.S. and Canada.