Why does a fibroid decrease in size once its blood supply is shut off?
Any tissue depends upon its blood supply for Oxygen and Nutrients. When it loses these essential ingredients, the tissue begins to degenerate and break up. The body has the remarkable ability to reduce these tissues to simpler chemicals, which in turn are washed away and removed. This is the cause of the decrease in fibroid size which is observed. There are several reactions which result from this process that explain two symptoms our patients observe: (1) Pain – begins shortly after the procedure, and is caused because the oxygen supply of the tissue drops. This can last about 7-10 hours before it begins to lessen. After this, the pain is controllable by Motrin (Ibuprofen) or by taking with the Motrin other oral pain medications such as Percocet. In order to keep our patients comfortable, we use epidural anesthesia for the procedure (the same anesthesia used at our hospital for patients in labor.) This provides complete pain relief during the procedure. At the same time, our anesthesi
