Study Focuses on Women With Uterine Fibroids

University Image Guided Therapy Center of Boca Raton is enrolling African-American women in a study to evaluate the efficacy of its ExAblate 2000 procedure in treating uterine fibroids. This study was part of the FDA’s commercial approval for ExAblate in October 2004.

The ExAblate is the first Focused Ultrasound thermal ablation system approved by the FDA and is also the first Focused Ultrasound surgery system using Magnetic Resonance (MR) guidance approved by the FDA.

It is an alternative treatment option for women with uterine fibroids, the most common non-cancerous tumor in women of childbearing age.

Uterine fibroids can be as small as a pea or as large as a grapefruit and often cause heavy and extensive menstrual bleeding, pain or discomfort in the pelvis, pressure on the lower abdomen, and frequent urination, among other symptoms.

According to the U.S. National Institute of Health, at least 25 percent of women, or 13 million women in the United States, aged 25- 50, suffer from uterine fibroids. African-American women are three to five times more likely to develop the tumors than their Caucasian counterparts.

The study is open to African-American women who have symptomatic uterine fibroids, have completed their families, and are not contraindicated for MR imaging. For information, call (561) 826- 1274.

Coincidentally, Democratic U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland and Democratic Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio are pushing for legislation that would increase federal research to develop new treatments and study the cause of uterine fibroids.

– Carolyn Susman