DMC Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital first in State to Use Incision Free Procedure for Uterine Fibroids

DMC Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital is the first in Michigan to treat patients with a new incision-free procedure to help relieve debilitating symptoms caused by uterine fibroids.

Known as the Sonata® system, the treatment involves the use of a miniaturized ultrasound probe at the tip of the hand piece to locate fibroids and treat them from inside the uterus.

The probe is inserted through the cervix and into the uterus. Once the fibroid is identified, radiofrequency ablation is applied directly to the fibroid. The electrical current from the ablation passes through the fibroid tumor tissue causing the cells of the fibroid to die without damaging the surrounding tissue.

“This innovative treatment is a potential breakthrough for women living with uterine fibroids,“ says Danny Benjamin, M.D, chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology at DMC Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital. “We know that many women do not seek treatment for uterine fibroids because they want to avoid surgery. This treatment is performed as a same day surgery in the operating room, but without general anesthesia.”

Results of the SONATA Pivotal IDE Trial supported the safety and effectiveness of the treatment. In addition, the trail found that nearly 90 percent of women showed a reduction in menstrual bleeding at three months and 95 percent had a reduction at 12 months. Additionally, more than 50 percent of women return to normal activities the next day.

(Clinical Results from SONATA Pivotal IDE Trial: Chudnoff S, Guido R, Roy K, Levine D, Mihalov L, Garza-Leal JG. Ultrasound-Guided Transcervical Ablation of Uterine Leiomyomas. Obstet Gynecol. 2019 Jan; 133(1): 13-22)

Uterine Fibroids are benign growths in the uterus. They can cause symptoms such as abnormal bleeding, pelvic pain or pressure and urinary issues such as an increase in frequency or urgency.

The National Institutes of Health estimates that 80% of all women will develop uterine fibroids at some point during their lives. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, fibroids are most common in women aged 30–40 years, but they can occur at any age. Fibroids occur more often in African American women than in white women. They also seem to occur at a younger age and grow more quickly in African American women.

Typical surgical treatments for uterine fibroids include a myomectomy, procedure that involves removing fibroids while preserving the healthy tissue of the uterus, or a hysterectomy, which involves the removal of the entire uterus.