Embolization

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Embolization is the blockage of the vessels of a tissue, organ or tumour for therapeutic purposes. If it is a tissue or organ that is embolized, its volume decreases and if it has a harmful effect on the body, it disappears. If it is a tumour that is embolized, it will shrink and sometimes lose its vitality completely.

Embolization is a procedure that has been widely used in medicine for about 50 years for various purposes. Today, it is used to treat ballooning of arteries in the brain, vascular tangles, some liver cancers, uterine fibroids and benign prostate enlargement Many diseases such as thyroid gland can be treated with embolization. Embolization is also used in various diseases of the thyroid gland. When thyroid vessels are blocked by embolization, tissue blood supply decreases and the thyroid gland shrinks. Nodules lose their vitality and shrink rapidly. The patient has excessive hormone secretion from the nodules (hyperthyroidism) may improve after the procedure. For this reason, embolization is used in cases of thyroid overgrowth that are difficult to operate (goiter), especially in thyroid enlargements extending into the chest cavity (plonjon goiter), nodules causing hyperthyroidism (toxic goiter) and Basedow-Graves’ disease (diffuse toxic goiter) and very successful results have been obtained.

Goiter types that are more difficult to operate on, such as giant goiters and goiters that prolapse into the chest cavity (plongeur goiters), can be treated by blocking the vessels with embolization (angioplasty). Goiter masses whose vessels are occluded shrink in volume by around 80% on average in the first 6 months. This shrinkage continues afterwards. When the goiter shrinks, complaints such as shortness of breath, difficulty swallowing, hoarseness due to goiter compression decrease or disappear.