For most people, hemorrhoids go away on their own. Symptoms are typically managed with medication for pain, topical creams or sitz baths. If these methods do not work, and hemorrhoids last for several months or more, they are considered to be chronic.
Chronic hemorrhoids were traditionally treated with surgery or a procedure called rubber band ligation. However, both approaches can involve a painful recovery. A new and minimally invasive procedure called hemorrhoidal artery embolization, or HAE, is now available. It requires just a nick in the skin to access the bloodstream. A tiny catheter is advanced to the hemorrhoid, guided by fluoroscopic imaging, where the blood supply to the hemorrhoid is embolized or “cut off.” This causes it to shrink and symptoms to go away.
HAE has a high success rate (~90%). It is performed on an outpatient basis and you can return home and resume most normal activities after the procedure.