Focused ultrasound treats gynecologic problem

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Vulvar dystrophy is a common gynecologic disorder usually involving white lesions on tissues of the vulva that are often accompanied by intense itching. Currently, various treatments can help but may not be long-lasting.

Now a team in China has found that the condition seems to respond well to treatment with focused ultrasound, according to a report in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology.

"As a local therapy, focused ultrasound is noninvasive and nonionizing,” Dr. Zhibiao Wang, from the Institute of Ultrasound Engineering in Medicine in Chongqing, and colleagues note. “It could be precisely targeted to the tissue of interest, without damaging the overlying tissue.”

The new findings are based on a study of 76 women with different types of vulvar dystrophy who were treated with focused ultrasound therapy between 1999 and 2002.

A few months after the procedure, treated skin areas resumed a normal appearance. After two years, the total response rate was 95 percent, the investigators report.

Overall, 49 patients were cured with ultrasound therapy, and 23 more had a good improvement in their condition. Just four women had persistent disease.

The authors say the results are “very encouraging”, but the long-term effects of focused ultrasound therapy need to be monitored.

SOURCE: Obstetrics and Gynecology, November 2004.

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