WeeklySA_AdminPROCEDURE: A South African study at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital has found that a non-invasive ultrasound treatment significantly reduced fibroid size and eased painful symptoms in women, offering hope to thousands battling the condition…
By WSAM Reporter
A South African study has found that a non-surgical treatment for uterine fibroids helped reduce both the size of the growths and the distressing symptoms they cause in women, raising hopes for improved treatment options for thousands across the country.
Researchers at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital studied women who underwent ultrasound-guided high intensity focused ultrasound (USgHIFU) treatment between 2015 and 2018 and found significant improvements at least six months after the procedure.
Fibroids are non-cancerous growths that develop in or around the uterus, often during a woman’s reproductive years. While not always dangerous, they can cause severe symptoms including heavy menstrual bleeding, pelvic pain, painful periods, infertility, frequent urination and pregnancy complications.
The South African study found that the treatment noticeably reduced some of the most common symptoms.
Painful menstruation (dysmenorrhea) dropped from about 84% of women before treatment to 54% afterwards.
Heavy menstrual bleeding (menorrhagia) fell from 66% to 41%.
The median fibroid size also shrank significantly, from 38 cm³ to 26.88 cm³.
Researchers said these changes were both statistically significant and clinically meaningful, suggesting the treatment can make a real difference in women’s quality of life.
The women in the study had an average age of 35 years, with many reporting fibroid-related symptoms that are common among women in their reproductive years. More than half were also dealing with infertility, highlighting how fibroids can affect family planning as well as day-to-day health.
What is USgHIFU?
USgHIFU is a non-invasive treatment that uses focused ultrasound waves to heat and destroy fibroid tissue without surgery. Unlike hysterectomy or open surgery, it does not require major incisions and can reduce recovery time.
The study is particularly important because it is believed to be the first South African research to report outcomes of this treatment in a local population.
Common but overlooked
According to the World Health Organisation, fibroids are among the most common benign tumours affecting women, particularly during reproductive years.
Many women experience no symptoms, but for others the condition can severely affect menstrual health, fertility, pregnancy outcomes, mental wellbeing and quality of life.
WHO and global women’s health experts have repeatedly stressed that conditions such as fibroids are often underdiagnosed and undertreated, especially in low- and middle-income countries where access to specialist care may be limited.
Studies internationally have also shown that Black women tend to develop fibroids more often, at younger ages, and with more severe symptoms, making access to treatment a particularly important issue in South Africa.
The researchers concluded that ultrasound-guided focused ultrasound treatment offered meaningful symptom relief and measurable fibroid shrinkage, suggesting it could become an important option for women seeking alternatives to surgery.
For many South African women living with fibroids, the findings offer a simple but powerful message: effective treatment may be possible without going under the knife.
HEALTH Briefs
Bacteria’s Cancer Therapy Role Explored
Scientists are investigating whether bacteria hiding inside tumours could help explain why some of the deadliest cancers resist treatment — a discovery that may open the door to new therapy strategies using existing antibiotics.
Researchers from Nankai University, the University of Utah and Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute & Hospital say bacteria have increasingly been detected inside aggressive cancers such as pancreatic, colorectal and biliary tract tumours.
Their review, published in Cancer Biology & Medicine, suggests certain bacteria may fuel inflammation, weaken immune responses and even help tumours resist chemotherapy.
Researchers argue that some poor-prognosis tumours should potentially be treated as bacteria-infected cancers, with antibiotics combined alongside chemotherapy in carefully selected cases.
The study also questions why advanced nanomedicine treatments that showed promise in animal experiments have struggled to deliver major breakthroughs in human patients. Scientists say human tumours are often more fibrotic, complex and difficult for drugs to penetrate than laboratory models.
Early evidence from animal studies suggests antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin may help re-sensitize resistant tumours to chemotherapy drugs including gemcitabine.
The researchers cautioned that indiscriminate antibiotic use could disrupt healthy microbiomes and worsen antimicrobial resistance. However, they say retrospective clinical studies could help determine whether targeted antibiotic-chemotherapy combinations may improve outcomes for patients with highly aggressive cancers.
Promising HIV ‘Living Drug’ Tested
Scientists are testing a powerful cancer treatment as a possible new weapon against HIV after an early study showed it could suppress the virus for months — and in some cases nearly two years — without daily medication. Researchers in the United States used a modified form of CAR-T cell therapy, a treatment that genetically engineers a patient’s immune cells to better hunt and destroy disease.
In findings presented at a meeting of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy, two HIV-positive patients who received the experimental therapy maintained extremely low or undetectable virus levels long after stopping standard antiretroviral treatment.
The study was led by Steven Deeks of the University of California, San Francisco.
Scientists engineered the immune cells to both identify HIV-infected cells and resist infection by the virus itself. Researchers hope the modified cells can multiply in the body and continue suppressing HIV over time.
Nine patients participated in the early-stage trial. While the first three showed little response, two later participants experienced prolonged suppression after receiving low-dose chemotherapy before treatment.
Experts cautioned that larger studies are still needed, but described the findings as an encouraging step toward a possible long-term HIV treatment or eventual cure.
Weed Use, Depression ‘Deeply Linked’
A major international study involving more than three million people has found a strong connection between depression and problematic cannabis use, raising fresh concerns about the mental health impact of heavy marijuana consumption.
Researchers found that nearly one in three people diagnosed with cannabis use disorder (CUD) also suffer from major depressive disorder (MDD), while 10% of people with depression were found to have problematic cannabis use.
The findings, published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, are based on a meta-analysis of 55 studies conducted across several countries.
Scientists said the link was particularly strong in psychiatric settings, where more than 28% of patients receiving treatment for depression also met the criteria for cannabis use disorder.
The study further showed that many people with cannabis dependency experienced depression at some point in their lives, even if symptoms were not present at the time of assessment.
Researchers warned that diagnosing the two conditions can be difficult because cannabis withdrawal symptoms — including anxiety, irritability and sleep problems — often resemble signs of depression.
Although most of the data came from North America, researchers urged health professionals worldwide to routinely screen depressed patients for cannabis misuse and assess depression among people seeking help for cannabis dependency.
Therapy Boosts Prostate Op Recovery
A new clinical trial has found that testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) may safely improve sexual health, physical function and quality of life in men recovering from prostate cancer surgery.
The study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, focused on men who had undergone radical prostatectomy — surgery to remove the prostate — and later developed low testosterone levels.
Researchers from Mass General Brigham found that men receiving weekly testosterone injections over 12 weeks reported significant improvements in sexual activity, sexual desire, body composition and aerobic performance compared with those given a placebo.
The trial involved 136 men aged 40 and older who had maintained undetectable prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels for at least two years after surgery.
Lead researcher Shalender Bhasin said prostate cancer survivors have traditionally been excluded from testosterone treatment due to fears it could trigger cancer recurrence.
However, no patients in either the testosterone or placebo group experienced signs of cancer returning during the study.
Researchers cautioned that the trial was relatively short and larger long-term studies are still needed to confirm the treatment’s safety.
The findings could open the door to new options for improving recovery and quality of life among prostate cancer survivors..
