Category Archives: ExAblate

Before treatment you are given a sedative and pain medication to help you relax. You lie prone (on your abdomen) on a special table and are made comfortable before starting treatment. The treatment takes place with you lying on the patient table inside the MR scanner. Your clinical team will be in the next room with two-way communication using a microphone and a speaker. The nurse will be at your bedside within the MR suite throughout the procedure, communicating with you. The doctor will inform you when images are being acquired (scanning) and when the system is sonicating (treatment).

During treatment, it is normal to feel a warming sensation in the pelvic region. You will be given a safety stop button that allows you to immediately stop the sonication if the treatment becomes painful.

You are conscious the entire time and provide feedback during the procedure to the physician and nurse. Afterwards you’ll be asked to rest for a few hours in the clinic, while the mild sedation wears off. Then you’ll be able to go home and resume normal activity.

MR guided Focused Ultrasound is a non-invasive outpatient procedure that uses high doses of focused ultrasound waves to destroy uterine fibroids without affecting any of the other tissues around the fibroid. The procedure is conducted in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner, which helps the physician “see” inside the body to pinpoint, guide, and continuously monitor the treatment.

Imagine using a magnifying glass to focus the sun’s energy on a single point to create a flame to burn a leaf. The focused ultrasound energy is directed at a small volume of the fibroid, raising its temperature high enough to cause thermal ablation (killing of the cells) without impacting other tissues. Pulses of energy are repeated until the entire volume is treated.