NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
Women in Nigeria diagnosed with fibroids and adenomyosis have been admonished not to suffer or die in silence but to take advantage of the significant advances in medical technology, such as high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), that are available and accessible in the country.
Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, the CEO of the Fibroid Care Centre in Lagos, made this call during a My Period Stories Watch party themed “Fighting Fibroids: The Non-invasive Procedure,” organised by the Sanitary Pad Media Campaign in collaboration with the Fibroid Care Centre.
Ajayi said HIFU is an effective and specialised non-invasive procedure that utilises focused ultrasound waves to destroy fibroids without open surgery, the need for hospital admission, or blood transfusion.
According to him, “the world is moving from the invasive to the noninvasive treatment of fibroids for so many reasons. Figures from France, showed that 20 out of 100,000 people who surgery for fibroids had actually died, especially after hysterectomy. Then 2,000 out of 100,000 had problems after the surgery, from fever and blood transfusion to deep vein thrombosis (DVT).
“So the world is now looking more towards non-invasive methods, which will prevent all these things that can happen. With HIFU, there is no risk of blood loss, damage to organs, or tissue. It preserves fertility, and women are able to conceive and have normal pregnancies after treatment.
“HIFU takes away almost all the risks because we don’t cut at all, we don’t use anaesthesia, and rarely does anything go wrong, especially when you do everything the way it should be done.
“Also, the recurrence rate for fibroids after surgery is a little bit higher than HIFU. Even if there is a recurrence, and you need to do another HIFU, it’s still better than having to do another surgery.
“We are not saying everybody should do HIFU. What we’re trying to do is that, when you have fibroids, let’s look at all the options, and see you decide which one you think is best for you, depending on so many things, like the type of fibroids, its location, obesity, and certain medical history or previous surgeries.”
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