Great Wall Street Journal Article on Fibroid Treatments Today
There is a great focus piece in this mornings Wall Street Journal on uterine fibroids. It’s main focus is on Radiofrequency (RF) ablation, a minimally invasive treatment which ablates fibroids in a manner similar to Focused Ultrasound, yet the author fails in accurately depicting Focused Ultrasound (more to follow with a comment directly to the WSJ page).
In RF ablation, three small incisions are created in the abdomen to insert a laparoscope (to guide the procedure) an ultrasound probe (to visualize the fibroid) and the RF probe which is inserted directly into the fibroid to heat and ablate it.
Halt Medical is enrolling patients in a clinical trial to assess this treatment option for fibroids at six medical centers in the U.S., two in Mexico and one in Guatemala. For more information, check out the WSJ article.
For accurate information about Focused Ultrasound - check out About Focused Ultrasound on Fibroid Relief.
As stated above, here is the comment/letter to the author:
Dear Ms. Beck,
Thank you for increasing awareness of treatment alternatives to hysterectomies for uterine fibroids. As representatives of a patient support organization dedicated to accurate information about all procedures being used today to treat uterine fibroids, we would like to correct some of the factual errors published in your January 19, 2010 article.
There are multiple inaccuracies in reference to MRI-HIFU or Magnetic Resonance Imaging- guided High intensity focused ultrasound (also referred to as MRgFUS). MRI is fully integrated with HIFU and utilized for both guidance and temperature measurement while performing focused ultrasound. This allows for accurate targeting of the fibroid as well as avoidance of other important anatomical features (nerves, bowel, etc).
In addition the use of MRI allows for temperature measurement which ensures that tissue is heated to ~60 C, the temperature needed to ablate the targeted fibroid. It is only at the point of focus (which is typically the size of a grain of rice) that ablation occurs.
Also, for further clarification, the perception that only small fibroids can be treated is outdated. Research in this area has demonstrated that many fibroids, including large fibroids, can be treated with this technique.
Another needed correction involves who now offers MRI-HIFU or MRgFUS treatments for uterine fibroids. As you reported, radiologists are performing the procedures. However, specially trained gynecologists are offering the treatments, too. We believe it’s important for patients suffering from fibroids to know that two groups of medical professionals are offering a non-invasive treatment option.
We encourage your readers to visit the Fibroid Relief website to review listings of treatment centers around the United States and in Europe that are offering MRI-HIFU or MRgFUS procedures. As we are in the process of expanding our mission, our ultimate goal is to increase awareness to the full range of treatment options available to women who suffer from this often-debilitating condition.
Thank you.
Joy Polefrone and Tina Krall
Fibroid Relief
http://www.fibroidrelief.org