Treatment Options For Tumors In Uterus

Ultrasound replaces scalpel for some tumor ops

It may be one of the biggest medical advances since the scalpel: Doctors have discovered a way to treat non-cancerous tumors with sound waves instead of surgery.

CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes reports that the procedure may one day be used to battle cancer and other diseases.

Stephanie Small will never forget the day she learned she might not be able to have children. The 27-year-old Pennsylvania woman is suffering from a painful fibroid - a benign uterine tumor that can grow as big as a bowling ball, often requiring a hysterectomy.

"I cried. I have no kids and I don't want to not be able to have kids," Stephanie said recently.

In the hopes of avoiding surgery, Stephanie enrolled in a clinical trial at the University of Virginia, where doctors are using sound waves instead of knives. The technology is called focused ultrasound.

"It offers a treatment option that doesn't involve radiation or cutting. That is a huge breakthrough," said Dr. Alan Matsumoto, chair of the UVA Radiology Department.

The patient is awake for the four-hour procedure, lying in an MRI machine. It captures images pinpointing the fibroid's location. The doctor and technicians then bombard the tumor with up to 200 sound waves, which are harmless going into the body. When sound beams are focused on a single spot inside a person, their powerful energy kills tissue, much like sunlight through a magnifying glass burns a leaf.

"Essentially it's like a James Bond movie, you zap the target," Dr. Matsumoto said.

The results are startling. A scan of Stephanie's fibroid before the procedure is incredibly different than what is seen in the same spot afterwards.

Around 7,000 fibroid patients have been treated with focused ultrasound. As many as 90 percent of women in clinical trials reported symptom relief.

That may be just the beginning. Research facilities worldwide, including here at the National Institutes of Health are studying focused ultrasound to treat everything from epilepsy and Parkinson's disease to prostate and bone cancer.

"We will see a day in the coming five years where this treatment is playing a major role for the cancer patient," said Dr. Bradford Wood with the NIH Center for Interventional Oncology.

That's because sound beams can do more than burn tissue to remove tumors. Researchers at NIH are testing where ultrasound can also help deliver cancer treatment drugs.

Fibroid Tumors Symptoms and Effective Treatment for Fibroid Tumors

While most fibroids are asymptomatic, they can grow and cause heavy and painful menstruation, painful sexual intercourse, and urinary frequency and urgency. Uterine fibroids are the major indication for hysterectomy in the US. Fibroids are often multiple and if the uterus contains too many leiomyomatas to count, it is referred to as uterine leiomyomatosis. The malignant version of a fibroid is uncommon and termed a leiomyosarcoma. If you have fibroids, and are considering trying a fibroid tumor natural treatment, you have probably spent some time considering your treatment options. It could be that your doctor has recommended surgery, or perhaps hormonal treatment. Indeed, the most common recommendation is a "wait and see" approach which in theory is fine if your fibroids are benign. The factors that initiate fibroid growth are not known. The vast majority of fibroids occur in women of reproductive age, and according to some estimates, they are diagnosed in black women two to three times more frequently than in white women. They are seldom seen in young women who have not begun menarche (menstruation) and they usually stabilize or regress in women who have passed menopause. It has been seen that women taking estrogen supplements for the lack of hormone are more likely to grow fibroids. On the other hand, many women who already have fibroids, show completely normal estrogen level in the body. This proves that estrogen can be a reason for it, but not always. In most cases, women do not even realize that they have a fibroid growing inside their body, till the time some symptoms appear. It is important to discuss all of your fibroid tumor treatment options, with your doctor in order to gain a better perspective about your fibroids and your individual situation. Please contact your physician or use the contact options right on this page to get answers to any questions you may have about fibroid tumor treatment, including multiple hysterectomy alternatives. Uterine fibroids affect many women and are considered to be the most common non cancerous or benign tumors found on a woman's uterus. Many of these fibroids do not cause any symptoms and may not require treatment and the women affected rarely know that they have fibroids. For some other women affected, fibroids can cause various problems. This article discusses fibroids symptoms and finding fibroids treatment.

Ebony

Gynecologic tumor board, clinical cases in diagnosis and management of cancer of the female reproductive system

Tumors, innocent and malignant : their clinical characters and appropriate treatment

JAMA., The Journal of the American Medical Association

Lectures on the treatment of fibroid tumors of the uterus