Video / Sharecare Experts / John Lipman, MD / In Uterine Fibroid Embolization, What Are the Particles Used to Block the Arteries?

In Uterine Fibroid Embolization, What Are the Particles Used to Block the Arteries?

In Uterine Fibroid Embolization, What Are the Particles Used to Block the Arteries? (0:32)

Acrylic beads embedded in gelatin are used in uterine fibroid embolization (UFE) to cut off the blood supply. In this video, John Lipman, MD, interventional radiologist and Sharecare Advisory Board member, explains how these beads work.

Read Transcript

It's an acroric bead that it's embended in jillet and they are very tiny and on the order of 500 to 700 microns in size which is about 100 times the size of a red cell. So, they are very tiny beads that a flow directed out to the fibroid. Basically, to cut off the blood supply to every fibroid in the uterus, the big trunk, the main branches of the uterus stay open, so the uterus stays alive but none of the fibroids do.