In the July 2011 issue of this newsletter, we reported that CHA Bundang Medical Center in Seoul, South Korea had become the first MR-guided FUS site in the world to treat more than 500 uterine fibroid patients. An email from Paul Wragg, MSc (MRI) European Applications Manager for InSightec, Ltd., informed us that another site had already passed this clinical milestone.
According to Wragg, Rozdrav Federal State Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre in Moscow, Russia has treated 864 uterine fibroid patients. He expects the center will reach the 900-patient mark by the end of 2011 and break the 1,000-patient barrier in 2012.
“If a site should be regarded as exceptional, it is the Roszdrav Centre as they have treated more than 10 percent of the global total of ExAblate MRgFUS treatments on their own since starting their service in March 2006,” Wragg wrote. “They actually reached the 500 treatment mark way back in August 2008.”
In another email, Matthais Matzko, MD, of Amper Klinikan in Dachau, Germany, indicated that his FUS center is closing in on the 500-patient mark. Since opening in 2008, the center has treated 421 uterine fibroid patients.