Effective ablation therapy of adenomyosis with ultrasound-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of ultrasound-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) on adenomyosis.

Methods: In a retrospective analysis, data were reviewed from 202 patients with adenomyosis who underwent ultrasound-guided HIFU between November 2010 and June 2012 at Suining Central Hospital, Sichuan, China. Among these patients, 120 and 82 were classified as having focal adenomyosis and diffuse adenomyosis, respectively. All patients underwent pre-treatment and post-treatment magnetic resonance imaging by a standardized protocol to evaluate the treatment. All adverse effects were recorded.

Results: All patients completed the ultrasound-guided HIFU treatment in 1 session. A non-perfused volume ratio of 71.6%±19.1% was achieved. Compared with baseline data, the average menorrhagia severity score and the average dysmenorrhea severity pain score decreased significantly after ultrasound-guided HIFU (both P<0.001). The proportion of women with complete relief of dysmenorrhea at the 3-month follow-up was significantly higher among women with focal adenomyosis than among those with diffuse adenomyosis (P=0.02). No other significant differences were observed between the 2 patient groups.

Conclusion: Ultrasound-guided HIFU was found to be an effective technique for treating both focal and diffuse adenomyotic lesions to alleviate the symptoms of menorrhagia or dysmenorrhea.