A team in Lyon, led by Professor Gil Dubernard, has devised a technique to help most women who suffer from digestive endometriosis with rectal involvement avoid major surgical removal procedures.
The Focal One probe used in this approach emits focused ultrasound waves that target the problematic nodule in the rectal wall for about five minutes. This device was originally developed to treat prostate cancer, but has been repurposed for this use.
After a first feasibility study conducted from 2015 to 2018 involving 23 patients, and a second study in 2020 to 2022 with increased ultrasound intensity, a double-blind clinical trial (neither the patient nor the surgeon knew if the treatment was real or a placebo) began in 2023 and is currently being published. "At three months, the nodule shrunk by half and the significant improvement in pain persisted for one to two years, confirming the results of the previous study," said Dubernard.
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Using artificial intelligence to detect endometriosis
