MR Guided Focused Ultrasound

I just returned from another conference out west and had the oppurtunity to hear an excellent talk on MR Guided Focused Ultrasound. The lecture was given by Dr. Kim Butts Pauly, a brilliant scientist at Stanford Medical Center. This is a non-invasive, outpatient procedure which uses high doses of focused utlrasound waves to treat uterine fibroids, which is a commmon benign uterine tumour in women. Fibroids can occur in up to 25-50 % of women of child bearing age. It has been FDA approved in treating fibroids and for the treatment of bone metastases. Fibroids can be extremely painful and debilitating and account for a large number of surgeries performed on women every year. The procedure is performed in a MRI scanner which allows the physician to see and target the fibroid during the treatment. The focused ultrasound beam heats