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.
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The authors wish to thank Shirley McCarthy, MD, PhD, for her general support of this paper.
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Work is attributable to the Department of Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
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Arleo, E.K., Tal, M.G. Fibroid-induced acute urinary retention: treatment by uterine artery embolization. Int Urogynecol J 19, 161–165 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-007-0445-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-007-0445-2