Establishment of a scoring system for predicting the difficulty level of high-intensity focussed ultrasound ablation of uterine fibroids

Abstract

Purpose: To establish a scoring system that predicts the difficulty level of high-intensity focussed ultrasound (HIFU) ablation of uterine fibroids.

Materials and methods: Four hundred and twenty-two patients with fibroids were enrolled. The energy efficiency factor (EEF) and sonication time were set as dependent variables, with factors possibly affecting EEF and sonication time including age, body mass index (BMI), the volume of fibroids, the location of the uterus, the type of fibroids, the signal intensity on the T2-weighted imaging (T2WI), the enhancement type, the thickness of the rectus abdominis and the subcutaneous fat layer, the distance from the anterior/posterior surface of the fibroid to the skin, and the abdominal wall scars were set as predictors for building optimal scaling regression models.

Results: The volume of the fibroids, the location of the uterus, the signal intensity on T2WI, enhancement type, rectus abdominis thickness, subcutaneous fat thickness, and distance from the anterior surface of fibroid to the skin were related to EEF. Signal intensity on T2WI, the volume of fibroids, distance from the posterior surface of fibroid to the skin, and enhancement type were related to sonication time. Models that can predict the difficulty level of HIFU for fibroids have been established: for EEF, y ′ = 0.338X ′₁ − 0.231X ′₂+0.156X ′₃+0.167X ′₄ ; for sonication time, y = 0.227X₁+0.321X₂+0.157X₃+0.194X₄.

Conclusions: A scoring system for predicting the difficulty level of HIFU treatment for uterine fibroids has been established and it can be used to help select patients and to predict the sonication time for a given fibroid.

Keywords:

• Scoring system
• high-intensity focussed ultrasound ablation
• uterine fibroids
• energy efficiency factor
• sonication time

Disclosure statement

We are grateful to Wendy (Wenyi) Zhang for helping us edit and revise this paper. L.Z. is a senior consultant to Chongqing Haifu Company. The other authors report no conflict of interest to declare. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Additional information

Funding

This work was partially supported by the National Basic Research Programme of China [grant number 2011CB707900], the National Natural Science Fund by the National Science Foundation of China [grant numbers 81127901, 11274404, 11574039] and the National Key Technology R&D Program [grant number 2011BAI14B01].