This is a bibliographic record of a published health technology assessment from a member of INAHTA. No evaluation of the quality of this assessment has been made for the HTA database.

To examine and compare the mediumterm results of hysterectomy and uterine artery embolisation (UAE) as a treatment for symptomatic uterine fibroids with regard to safety, efficacy, special issues in the UAE group, cost-effectiveness, and
women’s own perspectives on the treatments.

The study results suggest that both UAE and hysterectomy are safe. No unexpected problems were detected following UAE after a long follow-up period (average 5 years). Complications are less common for UAE than hysterectomy. The costeffectiveness analysis favours embolisation even after taking account of complications, expected side-effects associated with the procedure and subsequent re-treatments for women with a preference for uterus preservation. It is important to improve the management of expectations following UAE, particularly regarding fertility. The data suggested that fertility and miscarriage rate are consistent with those of age-matched women with fibroids. UAE is an effective treatment for some women with fibroids and our trial supports the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidance that it should be made available as one of the options for treatment, with a possible reduction in the need for hysterectomy as the first-line treatment. Further research is needed into which women will be treated most successfully by
UAE, the best method of achieving effective embolisation, advice for women who desire future fertility, the role of prophylactic antibiotics in UAE, and the effects of HRT use after UAE on recurrence of fibroid symptoms.