U.K. researchers develop novel treatment for fibroids.

2002 OCT 24 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- U.K. researchers have developed a novel method of treating uterine fibroids that allows women to be treated under local anaesthetic as outpatients. Their technique, which uses a laser guided by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), was reported in Human Reproduction.

Around a quarter of women have fibroids - benign fibrous tumors - in their wombs. Many have no symptoms but others suffer heavy or prolonged periods and pain, and sometimes face reproductive problems including infertility or miscarriage. In the U.K. last year there were 47,000 hysterectomies and 60% involved fibroids. In the U.S. around 400,000 hysterectomies are performed annually for fibroids.

Although there are already a number of less invasive and successful techniques available for suitable patients they all still involve general anesthetic and a hospital stay, as well as prolonged discomfort or pain in many cases.

The new approach - believed to be the first in the world to treat fibroids using a combination of lasers and MRI - has been developed by researchers from St. Mary's Hospital, London, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. So far they have treated 66 women between the ages of 34 and 55.

Treatment involves inserting four fine needles through the skin under local anesthetic. These are placed into the fibroid under MRI guidance, which produces a thermal image of the fibroid updated every three seconds. Bare laser fibers are inserted into the needles and a laser is used to 'zap' the fibroid with thermal energy. The MRI image turns from blue to green as the temperature reaches the optimum level of 55 degrees C. The "real time" color images allow the operator to maximize the treatment within the target area while keeping inside the target boundary, thus avoiding damage to normal surrounding tissue.

"This is a limited study and we are still recruiting patients," said Dr. Wladyslaw Gedroyc, consultant radiologist and head of the department of interventional magnetic resonance imaging at St. Mary's Hospital. "But we are encouraged from our results so far and believe this approach has the potential to be a reasonable future alternative to traditional surgery in ...