Do you still choose to have your uterus removed for adenomyosis?

          Adenomyosis is a common condition among women in their reproductive years. The lesions often cause progressive menstrual pain and bleeding that seriously affect the health and quality of life of the patient. In the past, most of us chose to remove the uterus in order to solve the pain or stop the bleeding, but this is a difficult choice for young women. With the development and progress of medicine, we have applied interventional surgery to this disease and achieved good results. Young women no longer have to endure the pain of adenomyosis and lose their precious uterus easily.  The mechanism of vascular intervention for adenomyosis is: by embolizing the blood supplying arteries of the uterus, the lesions in the uterus are necrosed, absorbed and atrophied. This results in a series of responses: (1) necrosis of the ectopic endometrium and hyperplastic connective tissue, non-inflammatory edema, and a reduction of prostaglandin-like substances that cause dysmenorrhea by contraction of the uterus, resulting in relief or disappearance of dysmenorrhea symptoms.  (2) The uterus becomes softer and its volume and cavity area are reduced, effectively reducing menstrual flow.  (3) Necrosis of the lesion causes contraction of the uterus, which reduces the size of the uterus and closes the tiny channels causing the lesion, thus reducing the recurrence rate.  (4) The local estrogen level and the number of estrogen receptors etc. decrease. Since the vast majority of adenomyosis lesions are mainly located in the body of the uterus, adenomyosis in the cervix is rare. Therefore, the target vessels of adenomyosis are the bilateral superior branches of the uterine arteries. In order to improve the efficacy and to completely embolize the tiny vessels in and around the adenomyosis lesions at the same time, embolic agents of small diameter can be used. However, it is important to note that once the tiny embolic agents enter the endometrium, the ovarian vascular network, and the ureteral branches of the uterine artery they can lead to uterine amenorrhea, ovarian amenorrhea, and urinary tract injury. With improved intubation techniques and newer embolization agents, the accuracy of embolization targeting has improved and the vast majority of these injuries can be avoided. Embolization is the main efficacy assessment criterion for improvement of clinical symptoms such as dysmenorrhea and menstrual flow. A study proved that the medium and long-term clinical efficiency of vascular intervention for adenomyosis reached 82.39%, clinical ineffectiveness l7.61%, and recurrence 5.03%; dysmenorrhea was relieved after embolization with an onset time of (1.18sh0.81) months and a maintenance time of (33.68sh18.81) months. With the development of interventional techniques, vascular embolization is increasingly used in the treatment of obstetrical and gynecological diseases, and its relative comfort, safety and preservation of the uterus have opened up a whole new field in the treatment of adenomyosis.