New Study Shows Women With Untreated Symptomatic Uterine Fibroids Have Poorer Health Status And More Debilitating Healthcare Conditions

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Fertility
Article Date: 03 Jun 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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GE Healthcare and InSightec Ltd. announced that a new study suggests that women with clinically significant uterine fibroids (UF) have poorer health status and more associated health conditions than their counterparts. The study, which appears in the June issue of Fertility and Sterility notes that nearly half a million insured women are living with clinically significant UF and may be living with other debilitating healthcare conditions including anemia and endometriosis.

"Uterine fibroids and the conditions associated with them not only have a negative impact on hundreds of thousands of women, they also place a significant burden on the healthcare system," said David Lee, Ph.D., Senior Director, Health Economics and Outcomes Research, GE Healthcare and lead investigator in the study. "Many women choose to suffer rather than undergo highly invasive procedures such as hysterectomies."

According to recent data, almost 60% of women with UF in the U.S. opted to undergo surgical treatment, despite emerging evidence of the relative merits of alternatives options. An estimated 443,000 insured women in the Unites States have clinically significant uterine fibroids, and the study set out to profile the women who chose to undergo treatment.

The results of the study demonstrate that women with clinically significant UF had significantly poorer health status than those without. According to data noted in the study, the treatment of uterine fibroids is resource-intensive, with an estimated $2.2 billion direct cost to insurance companies. Much of the costs incurred are associated with hysterectomy, the most common treatment of UF.

The ExAblate is the only non-invasive surgical treatment available for uterine fibroids today. The system received its European CE Marking in 2002 and was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a treatment for symptomatic uterine fibroids in 2004. It's the first system to use the breakthrough magnetic resonance (MR) image guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) technology that combines MRI - to visualize the body anatomy, plan the treatment and monitor treatment outcome in real time - and high intensity focused ultrasound to thermally ablate tumors inside the body non-invasively. MR thermometry, provided uniquely by the system, allows the physician to control and adjust the treatment in real time to ensure that the targeted tumor is fully treated and surrounding tissue is spared.

Over 4000 symptomatic women have been treated with the ExAblate with up to 36-month follow-up and lately, after expanding the treatment guidelines, 92% reported symptom relief after treatment.

About InSightec

InSightec Ltd. is a privately held company owned by Elbit Imaging, General Electric, MediTech Advisors, LLC and employees. It was founded in 1999 to develop the breakthrough MR guided Focused Ultrasound technology and transform it into the next generation operating room. Headquartered near Haifa, Israel, the company has over 150 employees and has invested more than $100 million in research, development, and clinical investigations. Its U.S. headquarters are located in Dallas, Texas. For more information, please go to: http://www.insightec.com.

About GE Healthcare

GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, performance improvement, drug discovery, and biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies is helping clinicians around the world re-imagine new ways to predict, diagnose, inform, treat and monitor disease, so patients can live their lives to the fullest.

GE Healthcare's broad range of products and services enable healthcare providers to better diagnose and treat cancer, heart disease, neurological diseases and other conditions earlier. Our vision for the future is to enable a new "early health" model of care focused on earlier diagnosis, pre-symptomatic disease detection and disease prevention. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $17 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 46,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries.

GE Healthcare