Authors: Jorge Alberto Elías; Miriam Galich; Gabriela Corin; Pablo Naranjo Garcia; Victor Sivo; Devesa Nestor; Laureano Nuñez
We have studied High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) technology for the treatment of urogenital atrophy (GSM), stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and vaginal hyperlaxity (VH). This is a novel gynecological application that produces a regenerative thermal effect on superficial vaginal tissues, and also on deeper layers that cannot be reached with laser and RF equipment due to their physical nature. The results of this prospective pilot study, involving a cohort of 30 patients that were clinically analyzed, answered validated questionnaires and underwent pre- and post-treatment biopsies, confirm the assumptions about its potential therapeutic effect and offer positive and valid conclusions to consider its use necessary as the preferred therapy or complementary to laser and other therapies with published evidence. With 80-90% of individuals presenting an adequate therapeutic response after only two outpatient sessions of painless intravaginal treatment and follow-up controls confirming the persistence of the benefits achieved within a year after the procedure, we feel encouraged to keep monitoring the cohort and design new perspective, randomized and comparative protocols evaluating HIFU against other thermal solutions and using the current gold standard in urogenital atrophy: estriol. Results are promising and motivate further research
Keywords
High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound, Genitourinary syndrome of menopause, Vaginal atrophy, Stress urinary incontinence, Vaginal hyperlaxity, Vaginal regeneration, Quality life.
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