title: Fibroid-induced acute urinary retention: treatment by uterine artery embolization.
abstract: A 39-year-old gravida 2 para 2 woman presented to our Hospital's Emergency Department with complaints of difficulty voiding. She had an enlarged leiomyomatous uterus, for which she was not receiving any current treatment. A Foley catheter placed yielded 1,500 cc of clear yellow urine; however, the patient remained Foley-dependent for 2 weeks until she underwent uterine artery embolization (UAE). Twenty-four hours afterwards, the Foley catheter was removed and the patient spontaneously voided with negligible post-void residual. There was no recurrence of urinary retention or development of any other urinary symptoms during the outpatient follow-up period. Repeat pelvic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) 1 week after UAE showed negligible reduction in the size of the fibroids and uterus in comparison with a pre-procedure MRI. The Vascular Steal Theory, first presented in this paper, discusses this improvement in symptoms without significant change in size.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY, USA. ekarleo@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Elizabeth Kagan
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Arleo
authors.forename: Michael G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Tal
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004621:Embolization, Therapeutic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018231:Leiomyomatosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000628:therapy; D016055:Urinary Retention / Q000209:etiology*; D014599:Uterus / Q000098:blood supply*