Focused Ultrasound for Fibroids
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For the Charlottesville area:
434.924.1955For Northern Virginia:
571.261.3529Focused ultrasound is not an operation. Instead of surgery, we use high-intensity, focused ultrasound waves to heat and destroy fibroid tissue.
This is a non-invasive procedure, which means you won't need:
- Incisions
- Radiation
- Anesthesia
- Hospitalization
The recovery time is one day.
About the Focused Ultrasound Procedure
The procedure, which lasts about 4 hours, takes place in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine. This machine takes pictures of your uterus, fibroid(s) and surrounding tissues. The MRI allows us to:
- Plan the treatment procedure
- Make sure the sound waves are working
- Monitor the accuracy and progress of the procedure
- Assess the amount of fibroid tissue destroyed
During the treatment session, you'll be able to communicate with the medical team as needed. You can also have some sedation to make you feel comfortable. And if you experience severe pain, you'll have a button that makes the treatment stop.
Fibroids may recur or come back. We can do the procedure again, as needed.
Focused Ultrasound Helped Gloria's Fibroids
Learn about Gloria's focused ultrasound treatment at UVA.
[MUSIC PLAYING] My symptoms before the treatment included having pain and very heavy periods. There was one month where I actually bled every day for the entire month. A new month was starting, and the bleeding did not seem as though it was going to end.
That's when I went to a hospital. That's when they did an ultrasound. And that's how I found out that I had fibroids. I knew it was common for women to have them. But I also knew that my symptoms were not common. When I was researching into the treatment options, I was looking for one that did not involve invasive treatment.
Focused ultrasound is a way in which ultrasound energy is used to destroy abnormal tissue. And what it is a big lens from which more than 200 individual sound waves are focused. You target it on the fibroid, using magnetic resonance imaging to guide you where you want to target. You turn the machine on, and you destroy that little area of tissue.
When I came to see if I was eligible for the treatment, Dr. Matsumoto gave me all my treatment options what would be best for me based on my age, and if I wanted to have kids. He was very thorough and making sure I knew all the details of what to expect during the treatment itself, as well as afterwards what I could expect.
The other treatment options seemed as though they involved a lot more pain, and a lot more time to recover. And so for me, the MRI focused ultrasound just seemed like it was the best option, because I would be able to move around pain free the next day and hopefully have the same success.
My symptoms have improved greatly. My periods have been very regular. And my other symptoms have gone away completely. And I had some of the best quality medical care that I've ever received at UVA. And so I was very impressed with the level of care, the professionalism of the doctors and their staff, and would more than recommend. I would definitely support people here if I could.
We evaluate eligibility for this treatment on a case-by-case basis. We may discover that we can't perform this procedure because you have:
- Too many fibroids
- Fibroids that are too large
- Fibroid tissue too close to old scars, nerves in your spine, your intestines or pubic bone
- The kind of fibroids that will likely be resistant to the therapy
Factors to Consider
When deciding whether or not you want this treatment, you should also consider:
- Reproductive risk – research continues to review a woman’s ability to have children after treatment.
- Costs – since many insurance companies still consider this treatment investigational, they may not cover the costs. This means you'd have to pay for the procedure.
Learn more about focused ultrasound technology.