EXPLAINED: THE KIDNEY EMBOLIZATION SURGERY MELANIA TRUMP UNDERWENT

by Natalie Rahhal, health correspondent, and Mia de Graaf, health editor  

A kidney embolization is a simple procedure done to intentionally block off a blood vessel in the kidney. 

'Embolization is a minimally invasive procedure to stop blood flow to parts of an organ (in this case kidney),' Dr Jamin Brahmbhatt, a urologist at Orlando Health, explains. 

'It can be used to treat malignant and benign lesions.'

WHY IS IT DONE?  

An embolization is often used as a first-line treatment for any kind of gastrointestinal bleeding, but it can also be preventative.  

It can be performed on any organ that has a growth or blood vessel clump.  

There are typically two scenarios for performing a kidney embolization: 

1. Preventative: to cut off a tumor's blood supply and shrink, or control a cyst it before it can rupture 
2. Emergency: to stem bleeding of a ruptured cyst on the organ

There are three things on which kidney embolizations are peformed: 

1. To shrink a cancerous tumor by cutting off the blood supply
2. To shrink a benign cyst (i.e. a angiomyolipoma) by cutting the blood supply
3. To fix an arterial vessel malformation (a clump of blood vessels)  

Angiomyolipomas are benign growths. They disproportionately affect women. Eighty percent of them are spontaneous, while 20 percent of them are genetic

Melania Trump's operation was reportedly for a 'benign' kidney condition. 

Dr Brahmbhatt believes it was like an angiomyolipoma. 

These growths disproportionately affect women (four times more than men), and 80 percent of them are spontaneous (compared to 20 percent which are genetic).

Surgery is only recommended if it grows too big.  

'If they're under four centimeters, we just monitor it,' Dr Brahmbhatt explained. 

'But if it goes over four centimeters, the risk of it rupturing goes up way high, so that's when we suggest treatment.'  

HOW IS IT DONE?

Typically, a patient is given sedation and the entire procedure is done through an X-ray view.

The doctor makes a small incision near the groin, and guides very long, skinny tube, called a catheter, through a blood vessel toward the kidney.

There, an 'agent' or chemical  that causes the blood to clot is injected, cutting off the flow of blood to through that particular vessel.  

The entire procedure commonly takes up to three hours and hospital stays afterwards vary.

HOW IS THE RECOVERY? 

'After embolization patients often have nausea, vomiting, fever, and pain that could last a few days,' Dr Brahmbhatt said. 

'These procedures are fairly low risk but still require close follow-up.'

Embolizations are minor operations, with relatively low risks of complications or side effects. 

In very rare cases, patients may have a bad reaction to the dye used in the procedure. 

More commonly, some have discomfort or minor bleeding after an embolization, and as such they are monitored over night. 

Some people develop fever, weakness and nausea, a temporary condition called 'post-embolization syndrome,' that usually subsides within a few days.