ObjectiveTo probe into the clinical efficacy of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) alone for uterine fibroids. MethodBetween February 2012 and February 2014, 145 patients with 174 cases of uterine fibroids were treated with HIFU. Before and one day, 6 months, 12 months after treatment, MRI was performed during the follow-up. We analyzed fibroids narrowing rate, adverse reactions, and clinical symptoms improvement after treatment. ResultsSuccessful completion of HIFU ablation was done for all the fibroids. Enhanced MRI examination before and one day after treatment, and MRI plain scanning 6 and 12 months after treatment showed that fibroid volume before treatment was 4.61-419.70 cm3 (median of 56.82 cm3), fibroid volume after treatment was 3.02-578.21 cm3 (median of 56.74 cm3), ablation volume was 2.42-578.21 cm3 (median of 47.84 cm3), and volumetric ablation rate was 24%-100%; there was no statistically significant difference in fibroid volume before and after treatment (P>0.05); fibroid volume 6 months after treatment was 0-264.50 cm3 (median of 22.49 cm3) and was 0-346.02 cm3 (median of 14.81 cm3) 12 months after treatment with a reduction rate of 60.4% and 73.9% on average respectively, and the volume was significantly different between those two time points and before treatment (P<0.05), and between 6 months and 12 months after treatment (P<0.05). The medians of uterine fibroid symptoms (UFS) and quality of life (QOL) scores before ablation were respectively 21.88 and 71.55 points. UFS reduced by 57.1% and 71.4% respectively 6 and 12 months after ablation, and QOL increased by 15.7% and 26.5% at those two time points. Both UFS and QOL 6 and 12 months after treatment were significantly different from that before treatment (P<0.05), and the UFS and QOL difference between 6 months and 12 months after treatment was also significant (P<0.05). As time went on, UFS gradually reduced, while QOL gradually increased. Complication rate was 2.8% with two cases of skin shallow degree-Ⅱ thermal damage, one of lower limb radiation pain, one of urinary retention, and there were 6 cases of recurrence during the follow-up. ConclusionsHIFU treatment for uterine fibroids is safe and effective, and is an alternative choice for conventional treatment when it is unable to retain the womb or when the patient refuses surgical treatment.
Objective To analysis the safety of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) in the treatment of uterine fibroids and provide references for clinical practice and prevention of complications of gynecological diseases. Methods Databases including PubMed, The Cochrane Library (Issue 2, 2016), EMbase, CBM, CNKI, and VIP were searched to collect studies concerning the complications of HIFU for uterine fibroids from March 1st 2005 to February 15th 2016. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed by using R software. Results A total of twenty studies involving 2 405 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that complications rate of gynecological system induced by HIFU was 6.63% (95%CI 3.58% to 12.28%); among them, the incidence of vaginal bleeding was 5.82% (95%CI 3.22% to 10.53%), and the incidence of abdominal pain was 10.02% (95%CI 4.77% to 21.05%). Conclusion The current evidence shows that there is a certain amount of complications of HIFU for uterine fibroids. Due to the limited quantity and quality of included studies, the above results are needed to be validated by more studies.
ObjectivesTo systematically review the safety and effectiveness of uterine artery embolization (UAE), surgery and high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) in the treatment of uterine fibroids.MethodsPubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, WanFang Data and CNKI databases were electronically searched to collect relevant studies on comparing the safety and effectiveness of UAE, surgery and HIFU in the treatment of uterine fibroids from January 2000 to August 2019. Two reviewers independently screened the literature, extracted the data and evaluated the risk of bias of included studies, network meta-analysis was performed by ADDIS 1.16.8 software and Stata 14.0 software.ResultsA total of 11 trials (22 references) involving 3469 patients were included. Compared with surgery, UAE and HIFU patients had higher quality of life (1-year follow-up) improvement, and UAE was higher than HIFU. Network meta-analysis showed that patients treated with HIFU had the lowest incidence of major complications within 1 year, followed by UAE, and surgery. Patients treated with HIFU and UAE had shorter hospitalization and quicker recovery time than surgery. The rate of further intervention after surgery treatment might be lower than that of UAE and HIFU.ConclusionsUAE has the highest quality of life improvement (1-year follow-up) for uterine fibroids. HIFU and UAE are safer with shorter hospital stays and quicker recovery time compared with surgery. However, both UAE and HIFU have the risk of re-treatment. However, limited by the number and quality of included studies, the above conclusions are needed to be verified by more high-quality studies.