A Medical Device Daily

Uterine fibroid embolization (UFE), a minimally invasive interventional radiology treatment for uterine fibroids, provides relief of symptoms for women following the failure of a focused ultrasound (FUS) treatment, according to a study released during the 33rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR; Fairfax, Virginia) last week in Washington.

The society said that primary care physicians and gynecologists can feel confident in informing patients that a failed FUS treatment does not require subsequent gynecological surgery because these women can be successfully treated with UFE.

Patients with a single large fibroid are candidates for FUS; patients with many fibroids, which is more often the case, would be better treated with UFE. There is limited long-term follow-up data for FUS and limited information on fibroid recurrence rates.

In this retrospective study from Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston), seven post-FUS patients who experienced therapeutic failure and were subsequently re-treated with UFE were reviewed. In all patients, their symptoms — such as heavy menstrual bleeding and the sensation of fullness or pressure in the lower abdomen — improved.
"FUS is a newer procedure for uterine fibroids and whether it provides sustained symptom relief is still being evaluated. My research shows that when FUS fails, these women could benefit from uterine fibroid embolization,” said Alisa Suzuki, MD, interventional radiologist at Brigham and Women's.
Uterine fibroids are treated only if they are causing bothersome symptoms. With UFE, an interventional radiologist inserts a catheter into the femoral artery and using real-time imaging, guides the catheter up the artery and then releases tiny particles, the size of grains of sand, into the uterine arteries that supply blood to the fibroid tumor.

This blocks the blood flow to the fibroid tumor and causes it to shrink and die. FUS focuses high-frequency, high-energy sound waves to generate heat at a specific point within the fibroid tissue to shrink the fibroid and relieve symptoms. FUS has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for several years. Due to the limited number of institutions providing FUS, the number of procedures performed is still limited, Suzuki said, "Fibroids will not kill a patient, but they could ruin her lifestyle. UFE is widely available; patients can easily obtain information about this interventional radiology treatment on the Internet. :

Angiotech Pharmaceuticals (Vancouver, British Columbia) introduced its HemoStream chronic dialysis catheter.
"We anticipate that the HemoStream could be a great candidate for our combination drug-device technologies, such as Angiotech's innovative 5-FU anti-infective platform,” said George Leondis, GM of Angiotech Interventional.
Dialysis catheters, such as HemoStream, are used as long term vascular access for hemodialysis. HemoStream may also be used as a temporary access while more permanent options mature or become ready for use, such as a surgically created AV fistula, Angiotech said.