Note: CTSI supported this research in a variety of ways: UCSF Assistant Professor and study investigator Vanessa Jacoby, MD, MAS, was a CTSI K Scholar and completed the Master's in clinical research in 2007; the studies utilized the CTSI Clinical Research Center at Mt. Zion Hospital; both studies utilized REDCap, a survey and database management tool, which CTSI supports training for; and pilot studies for related projects were supported by the UCSF Resource Allocation Program (RAP grants).
By Victoria Colliver via sfgate.com (San Francisco Chronicle)
When Tonya Marie Amos' uterine fibroids grew big enough to cause soreness, bleeding and other symptoms, several doctors she consulted with told her the same thing. She needed to have her uterus removed.
But Amos, a professional dancer who now runs a Pilates studio in Concord, had already undergone two difficult abdominal surgeries, one to remove an ovarian cyst and an appendectomy. She wanted to find an alternative to a hysterectomy, and preferably one that didn't involve surgery.
"The more research I did, the more I realized there are not a lot of good options for women," said Amos, 45. "I got really depressed because I thought, I can't do that again. I can't have someone cut open my abdominals."
Then she heard about a clinical trial being conducted through UCSF's Comprehensive Fibroid Center on an approved but not widely used nonsurgical technique that relies on a magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, with a specially designed ultrasound device that sends targeted waves to kill the fibroids. The waves heat the fibroids, which cause the cells inside to die, without affecting surrounding tissue or organs.
The procedure, called MR guided focused ultrasound, is one of two relatively new techniques being studied in clinical trials at UCSF as alternatives to traditional fibroid surgery. The other is a minimally invasive surgical technique that uses radiofrequency energy to heat and destroy the tumors.
Read more at sfgate.com