Embolotherapy for lower urinary tract hemorrhage.

The patient characteristics, techniques used, and outcomes of 11 patients with lower urinary tract hemorrhage treated with embolotherapy are described. The authors focus on bilateral superselective embolization of the arterial supply to the bladder and techniques to embolize multiple small vessels supplying the bladder when the vascular anatomy is complicated and superselective catheterization is not possible. The immediate success rate was 100%, with three later recurrences. One procedure was complicated by asymptomatic occlusion of the posterior division of the internal iliac artery. Embolotherapy can provide at least short-term success adequate to improve quality of life for palliation with few complications.