More than 600,000 American women get hysterectomies each year, but doctors say that many of the women don't really need them.

Video: Local Doctor Performs Uterine Artery Embolizations
NBC 10's Cherie Bank reports on alternatives to relieve symptoms of fibroids and heavy bleeding and she focuses on one option that is gaining a lot of popularity.

Cynthia Ford-Davis has an identical twin who had a hysterectomy.

"I knew I didn't want to go that route because it was a long recovery period," Ford-Davis said.

These days, women who have excessive bleeding, fibroids or pain have a lot of less drastic options, doctors say.

According to doctors, a hysterectomy is a great operation for a woman who really needs it. But before choosing a hysterectomy, every woman should know what options are available to solve her problems before she gives up her original organs.

Different types of endometrial ablation can stop bleeding.

A hysteroscopy shaves out fibroids.

Myomectomy surgically removes fibroids.

The ExAblate system heats and destroys fibroids.

Uterine artery embolization basically gives fibroids a heart attack and knocks them off.

"About 90 percent of women with abnormal bleeding will get relief of symptoms after embolization. About 80 percent of women with pressure symptoms will get relief of them after (embolization)," said Dr. Robert Worthington-Kirsch, who practices on Ridge Avenue in Philadelphia.

Worthington-Kirsch has performed more uterine artery embolizations than anyone in the world.

Ford-Davis' actual procedure took less than a half hour

Worthington-Kirsch uses X-ray guidance to thread a catheter into the artery that supplies the uterus then injects tiny plastic particles.

"They're a little bit bigger than the dot a pencil would make at the end of a sentence," Worthington-Kirsch said. "What those particles do is they block the blood vessels that supply the fibroids, so the fibroids don't get any blood, they don't get any oxygen, so the fibroids choke to death."

After her procedure, Ford-Davis said that she didn't hurt at all, she just felt numb.

Renee Garvin-Johnson, of Mount Airy, Pa., had the procedure a 18 months ago.

"I would recommend it. It's a viable alternative to major surgery and it did work for me," Garvin Johnson said.

Embolization requires two weeks recovery as opposed to six to eight weeks for hysterectomy.

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Dr. Robert Worthington-Kirsch