Delva's Story: A Mass General Patient with Fibroids Talks About Why She Chose the Procedure That Changed Her Life

A patient whose life was regularly disrupted by a painful and common gynecological condition, Delva Campbell decided to take action.

“That time of the month” was often stressful for Delva Campbell, a Massachusetts General Hospital patient and busy accountant with two grandsons. For years, she suffered from uterine fibroids, a gynecological condition that caused her painful cramping and extreme bleeding. As a result, she often had to limit her activities.

"I’ve always been an athletic person. I love exercising and playing sports but I couldn’t go to the gym when I had my period," Delva said. She never knew when she might need to “run for cover” and always left the house prepared with a change of clothes.

No longer able to bear the discomfort, Delva sought help. She made an appointment with her gynecologist and explained how bad her symptoms were.  Because she wasn’t planning to have more children, she considered a hysterectomy. “It was the only option I knew about,” she said.

Her gynecologist referred her to Mass General interventional radiologist Gloria Salazar, MD. Dr. Salazar explained the details of three different treatment options available to her and gave her time to think about how she wanted to proceed.

Delva decided to undergo uterine fibroid embolization (UFE) because it didn’t seem as “severe” as other options. UFE is a minimally invasive image-guided procedure that helps shrink the size of fibroids by cutting off their blood supply.

For Delva, UFE “made a world of difference.” 

“A couple of months after the procedure, I could go out and not have to worry about creating a scene,” she said. “It made my life so much more comfortable and brought so much relief.”

Delva has advice for other women in a similar situation: “Don’t just sit back and say it will go away. You don’t have to live like that. There are options!"