Fibroids: Fertility Specialist Address Myths Surrounding HIFU Treatment

Williams Dare

Renowned fertility specialist, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, has stated that the High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) system is a safer, easier, and budget-friendly way of getting rid of fibroids in women’s bodies.

Ajayi said this during a press meeting in Lagos, adding that fibroids can be treated without open surgery because HIFU is a specialised non-invasive fibroid management technique that utilises focused sound waves to destroy the fibroid.

The expert noted that black women have about 70 percent chances of developing fibroids by the time they are 50 years old, stressing the need to get rid of the lump in ways that do not reduce the quality or threaten the life of the patient.

Speaking on the importance of HIFU as against the use of surgeries, Ajayi affirmed that it saves lives, time, and money of patients, adding that it is a seamless process.

“When you do your HIFU treatment, you can leave that day and start your normal activity the second day because before you leave our facility, we would have given you tea to drink but the second day you’re good to take your diets,” he said.

Furthermore, he said the patients are not admitted because “it takes two to three hours for the very big ones and no anaesthesia is involved because we need to talk to you in the process because we want to know how you feel”.

The renowned fertility specialist also touched on the criteria used to identify women who are qualified to undergo the process.

He explained, “We have strict criteria to choose patients who qualify for HIFU. We have relative conditions and absolute contradictions to HIFU. Only two things are absolute contradictions; when we suspect the uterus is undergoing a cancerous stage or there is any cancer anywhere around it.

“The second one is if you cannot lie down for at least two hours on your back, then we will not be able to do HIFU for you.

“For relative contradictions, we do what we call a simulation, we do as if we are doing the treatment to see if you can undergo it because relative contradictions can include your weight, whether you’ve had surgery before, whether you’ve done liposuction before, if you have defects in communicating, we will want to see if they are other ways we can communicate with you.”

He added that the HIFU is acceptable to many patients because it doesn’t affect the ovaries, it is very cost-effective, you don’t pay hospital bills because it takes 2 to 3 hours to complete the process and there is no blood transfusion.

On the success rate, the expert said, “We’ve had a 730 success rate of the non-invasive method at our facility”.

Dr. Ajayi also wondered how many surgeons have completed 730 safe surgeries and asked if the 730 women who came to their facility would have survived if they were all subjected to conventional surgeries.