By Laraba MUREY
Emerging medical options have begun to change how women diagnosed with uterine fibroids and adenomyosis are treated.
Using a non-invasive procedure known as High-intensity Focused Ultrasound, HIFU, the process is like using a magnifying glass to target areas heated at a distance of 12 to 14 cm, beyond 60° by converting ultrasound into heat safely destroying fibroids.
Obstetrician-Gynecologist and Managing Director of Nordica Fibroid Care Centre, Dr Abayomi Ajayi, disclosed at a media parley with journalist last Friday in Abuja.
Ajayi said, “with over 100 successful treatments recorded from the centre, benefits of treating fibroids with HIFU are enormous and has proven to improve the quality of life for the woman with shorter recovery period unlike the invasive surgery.
“You come on that day. And that takes you about two hours. You rest for about two hours, you’re ready to continue your day, your life continues. Maximum 48 hours you can do anything you like”.
He disclosed that HIFU does not remove fibroids, rather kills it. “So, what happens thereafter is that the body takes care of those dead fibroids, that is shrinking it over time.”
On post-treatment, the medical chief explained that, “We follow up with our patients after treatment. We do what we call a contrast ultrasound to see the fiber. Once you can get up to 85% of the fiber, that fiber is dead”.
Ajayi further stated “After that we do an MRI, just tie what you saw, when you did your treatment. Then three months to compare the volume. And after three months about 35% will have reduced but the good thing is that the symptoms are almost. But the shrinkage is what will probably take about six months.
On how long a patient of HIFU will have to wait before conceiving, Ajayi said ” three months but we advise our patients to wait for six months because we do a hysteroscopy to see that your endometrium allows you to conceive but while waiting, a lot of women get pregnant spontaneously.”
Uterine fibroids are noncancerous tumors commonly found in women of reproductive age accompanied with abdominal pains, bleeding and sometimes affects child bearing.
According to a report by the office of women’s health, about 20 percent to 80 percent of women develop fibroids by the time they reach age 50.
Before now the conventional way of treating uterine fibroids was invasive surgery where the woman will be cut open and the fibroids are extracted.
However, despite the successes recorded in using HIFU to treat fibroids this procedure is not for everyone.
On if the treatment is for everyone, he said it was not. “There are relative and absolute contradictions, relative because you can treat the client but you have to be careful, using simulation to determine the eligibility of the client.
“Obese people can’t do HIFU, if you are above 120kg. Another group is the ones that have had transplants especially from top to bottom because is possible that the intestine has glued to the scar, people with liposuction are also excluded and those who are unable to communicate.”
