What is uterine fibroids? Uterine fibroids are the most common benign tumor in the female reproductive organs, and have been described as the “number one tumor in gynecology”. In modern society, fibroids are becoming more and more common in middle-aged and young women in their thirties and forties, especially in three groups of women: infertile, sexually dysfunctional and depressed. The specific causes of uterine fibroids are not yet very clear, but studies have shown that excessive hormone secretion is the most common cause of fibroids, and these three behavioral patterns of women are the culprits of endocrine disorders that lead to hormone overproduction. What are the symptoms of uterine fibroids? Most patients have no obvious symptoms and are only detected incidentally during pelvic examinations. If symptoms do occur, menstrual changes are most common, such as increased menstrual flow, shorter or longer periods, and irregular vaginal bleeding. Prolonged excessive menstruation can lead to secondary anemia. If the fibroid is too large, it may cause a feeling of lower abdominal cramping and compression of the fallopian tubes or uterine cavity, preventing fertilization of the egg and leading to infertility. It may also compress the bladder, urethra or rectum, causing frequent urination, difficulty in urination, urinary retention or constipation. What should I do if I have uterine fibroids? Do I need treatment? Women who are found to have uterine fibroids should not rush to the doctor, but should go to the regular hospital and have a detailed communication with the doctor. For some women with small fibroids, no obvious symptoms, near menopause or poor general health conditions that cannot tolerate surgery, medication or imaging methods can be used for regular follow-up and review. In patients with obvious symptoms, the traditional methods are mainly hysterectomy (both total and hemisection) and myomectomy. Excision is generally indicated for those with a large uterus, small but symptomatic fibroids, or fast-growing fibroids that cannot be ruled out as malignant; while resection is mainly indicated for women under 35 years of age. However, the negative impact of surgery is that it is very traumatic and slow to recover, and the removal of the uterus has a significant impact on the patient’s psychological, physical and sexual life. The reason is that the blood supply of fibroids comes mainly from the uterine artery. The physician directly inserts an arterial catheter into the uterine artery and injects a permanent embolic particle to block the blood supply to the fibroids, causing them to undergo ischemic changes and gradually shrink, or even disappear completely, thus achieving the treatment purpose. The main advantages are excellent efficacy, especially for those with obvious bleeding symptoms, and that the tumor shrinks significantly and remains stable after embolization. Compared with surgery, this method is less invasive, easier to operate and has a lower rate of postoperative complications, which is easily accepted by patients. Another outstanding advantage of uterine fibroid embolization is that it can treat fibroids while preserving uterine function and normal uterine fertility. Embolization does not interfere with other treatments, in other words, even if embolization fails, the patient can still receive other treatments. Therefore, uterine artery embolization is a new treatment with little trauma, easy to perform, stable efficacy, and broad prospects.