Pilates studio owner Tonya Amos needs her body to run her business. But the former professional dancer started feeling intense pain. A visit to her doctor revealed the cause. Tonya had several fibroids – one of them as large as a grapefruit.
She said she heard over and over was she needed a hysterectomy. She said that wasn’t an option for her. Doctor Vanessa Jacoby is studying new ways to shrink fibroids – without major surgery.
With M-R Guided Focused Ultrasound, an ultrasound beam focuses on the fibroid and creates heat, burning the fibroid cells and destroying them.
Another method – laparoscopic radiofrequency ablation – requires three tiny incisions. A probe is placed in the fibroid. Radiofrequency energy is used to burn the fibroid cells.
With a hysterectomy, there’s a three to six week recovery. The ultrasound therapy is just two days. And the ablation – about a week. Tonya had the ultrasound treatment. It shrunk her fibroids. And she says it feels like she has her body back again.
