• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

New uterine fibroid treatment approved

Ambulatory Surgery Reimbursement Update, November 9, 2004

Healing through sound: high-powered sound, that is. It's the newest advance in the treatment of uterine fibroids, and it's set to make a big noise in the health care industry now that it's received approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
 
According to a story in the November 2 issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the non-invasive medical procedure developed by Insightec Ltd. of Israel and General Electric Co. uses high-energy sound waves. Patients lie inside a GE magnetic resonance scanner, which maps the fibroid tissue as the ExAblate 2000 ultrasound device bombards the fibroids with high-frequency, high-energy waves of sound. The FDA has determined that this process is safe for the treatment of most fibroids, with the exception of those close to sensitive organs such as the bowel or bladder.

Uterine fibroids are benign tumors that can cause symptoms such as heavy bleeding during menstruation, frequent urination, lower back pain and pain during sexual intercourse. The National Institutes of Health estimate that about 35% of all women suffer from uterine fibroids.
 
The new treatment is administered on an outpatient basis, and lasts approximately three hours. It represents a decided upgrade over previous treatments, which have included laproscopic surgery known to sideline women for a week or more, or the even more drastic hysterectomy, in which the uterus is removed and the patient requires a recovery time of at least a month. The sound wave therapy, according to FDA findings, allows women to resume regular activities within a few days.
  

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive