Preliminary Clinical Results: MR-HIFU Ablation of Uterine Fibroids with Automatic Volumetric Ablation

Charles Mougenot^1,2, Julia Enholm³, Nora Frulio⁴, Max O. Khler³, Herv Trillaud⁴

High Intensity Focused Ultrasound under MR guidance is a non-invasive thermotherapy procedure used for ablation of uterine fibroids. To improve this treatment, a volumetric heating method combined with temperature control was evaluated at St. Andr hospital following good clinical practice and using a Philips MR-HIFU platform. Preliminary results based on 13 clinical cases indicate that large volumetric sonications increase the ablation efficiency by a ratio 35. In addition, temperature control provides a reproducible ablation size with a diameter accuracy of 1mm, which enhances treatment safety. No serious adverse events or skin burns were observed.