Home Diseases and Conditions Hydrosalpinx

Hydrosalpinx

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Development Stage

Early Stage

Focused ultrasound research is in the laboratory phase and is not yet available for patients.

Clinical Trials

Focused ultrasound for this condition is being researched in clinical trials.

International Approval

Focused ultrasound is approved to treat this condition outside the US. Patients can seek commercial treatment at participating international sites.

FDA Approved

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved focus ultrasound for this condition. Patients can seek commercial treatment at participating sites.

Early Stage

Clinical Trials

International

FDA Approved

Focused ultrasound research for this condition is in the laboratory phase and is not yet available for patients.

Focused Ultrasound Therapy

Focused ultrasound is a therapeutic technology that could transform the quality of life and decrease the cost of care for patients with hydrosalpinx.  This novel technology focuses beams of ultrasound energy precisely and accurately on targets deep in the body without damaging surrounding normal tissue.

How it Works
Where the beams converge, focused ultrasound produces a couple of therapeutic effects that are being evaluated. One is to heat the tissue for an ablation effect, and the other is to do a mechanical destruction of the tissue. The goal is to accomplish this without damage and also to prevent the the reverse flow of material in the fallopian tube.

The primary options for treatment of hydrosalpinx are surgery that may include tube removal, which may cause future pregnancy attempts to be via in vitro fertilization.  

For certain patients, focused ultrasound could provide a noninvasive alternative to surgery with less risk of complications – such as surgical wound healing or infection – at a lower cost.  Focused ultrasound can reach the desired target without damaging surrounding tissue, and enhance chemotherapy dose for the target, with less impact to the rest of the patient. It can also be repeated, if necessary.

While significant work has been accomplished, there is still much to be done before this technology could be widely available.

Clinical Trials

At the present time, there are no clinical trials recruiting patients for focused ultrasound treatment of hydrosalpinx.

The Foundation updates these pages regularly, but with the increasing number of clinical trials, we want to be sure that our audience has the latest information available. Therefore, we also added the website search information for the above trials. If you click here, it will take you to the latest information available from https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/.

Regulatory Approval and Reimbursement

Focused ultrasound treatment for hydrosalpinx is not yet approved by regulatory bodies or covered by medical insurance companies.

Notable Papers

Harb H, Al-Rshoud F, Karunakaran B, Gallos ID, Coomarasamy A. Hydrosalpinx and pregnancy loss: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Reprod Biomed Online. 2019 Mar;38(3):427-441. doi: 10.1016/j.rbmo.2018.12.020. Epub 2018 Dec 25. PMID: 30665848

Click here for additional references from PubMed.