Treatment of Pulmonary Embolism as a Complication after Uterine Fibroid Embolization

What is it about?

A case of a 36-year-old woman suffering from a symptomatic uterine fibroid is described as follows. The patient underwent uterine fibroid embolization (UFE) and overnight she suddenly collapsed with signs of massive pulmonary embolism (PE). In consequence of cardiopulmonary resuscitation and urgent systemic thrombolytic therapy, cardiac activity was restored successfully. This constitutes another report of PE developed following UFE. In the case described here PE occurred 26 hours after the procedure was performed.

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Why is it important?

Before UFE all patients should undergo complete examination for exclusion of pre-existing venous deep thrombosis and coagulopathies. Despite relatively rare cases of VTE, including PE, further investigations are needed to study the characteristics of this complication after UFE and to develop an effective preventive program.

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