Thousands of women are undergoing unnecessary operations which rob them of their fertility when they could opt for an alternative form of surgery which leaves then with the chance of having children.

A revolutionary treatment for fibroids, benign growths in the muscle of the womb, allows young women to avoid hysterectomies.

The procedure, called uterine fibroid embolisation (UFE), is now offered at 10 centres in Britain, but the great majority of patients who have serious problems arising from fibroids still have hysterectomies without being told of the alternative.

One of those to receive UFE is Rachel Uzzell. The 34-year-old was diagnosed with a fibroid eight years ago, following the birth of her first child, Danny. 'For the next three years, life was pretty bad,' said Uzzell, of Swindon, Wiltshire. 'I had exceptionally heavy bleeding every month, which left me feeling very lethargic and depressed, to the point where I didn't leave the house much.'

She was referred to Dr Woodruff Walker, a gynaecologist at the Royal Surrey Hospital in Guildford, who in 1996 started to offer UFE for younger women with fibroids who still wanted to conceive.

'The operation was in February 2000, and no one really knew how it would affect my chances of conception,' she said. But two years later, after her fibroid had shrunk by 93 per cent, she found out that she was pregnant and had Josh, who is now 18 months old. Uzzell is pregnant again with her third child.

'All the symptoms which I'd had before have disappeared. I can go swimming and I seem to spend a lot of time playing football in the garden with the boys - something I couldn't have envisaged previously. I just wish more women in my position knew about it. A friend had a hysterectomy at the age of 34 because of fibroids, and she is now on HRT.'

The minimally invasive UFE procedure involves the doctor targeting the artery which feeds the uterus, or womb. Tiny plastic polyvinyl alcohol particles are released via a catheter into the uterine artery which then flow into the other vessels connected to the fibroids. This causes the vessels to 'silt up', stemming the blood flow and causing the growth to shrink and eventually die.

The procedure is technically demanding, but has a much faster recovery time than a hysterectomy and a good success rate. Most patients notice an improvement in their condition within three months, although it can take up to nine months for the fibroid to die completely.

Although not malignant, fibroids are a major cause of illness. Between 30 to 40 per cent of women in Britain will have them at some point in their lives. For most, there is no discomfort attached but for others the growths cause overwhelming tiredness, anaemia and heavy periods. If they grow too big they can cause 'compression syndrome', where they press on adjacent organs, and can cause backache and sciatica.

About 30,000 fibroid patients a year in the UK undergo either a hysterectomy, the surgical removal of the womb, or an abdominal myomectomy. This involves cutting out the fibroids, but can be performed only if the fibroids are small enough. A significant number of patients will need further surgery.

'It [UFE] seems to be a very successful procedure, and more doctors are now offering it, but still many women are not told about this, which is appalling,' said Walker. 'We haven't published the long-term results yet, but our documented results show that the overall success rate is around 87 per cent. There is a small rate of the fibroids recurring in around 2 or 3 per cent of women.'

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence, which looks at new procedures, initially produced guidance saying there was no long-term data to show it was effective or safe. However, under pressure from gynaecologists, it is set to produce new guidelines later this year.

'There are lots of women who could be helped by this treatment,' said Walker. 'There are more than 100 published articles on it, and in the States they are treating thousands of women each year with UFE, but still there is reticence here.'

He believes the potential benefits need to be spelt out to patients. 'There are long-term complications associated with hysterectomies, and between 4 to 6 per cent of patients will suffer serious complications, such as damage to the bladder or the bowel. It's a much bigger surgical operation.'