Hope for women with fibroids as new treatment saves fertility

Dr Kireki Omanwa, the president of Kenya Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society, during a meeting where Kenyan obstetricians and gynaecologists were developing guidelines for utilisation of the HIFU technology, in Nairobi. [Gardy Chacha, Standard]

Fibroids are non-cancerous growths in the uterus that can cause pain heavy bleeding and discomfort in women. It is no surprise, therefore, that a woman might choose to have them removed.

Previously, a woman's treatment options in Kenya were: drugs to ease the pain or to reduce heavy bleeding; open surgery to remove the fibroids (myomectomy) or the entire womb (hysterectomy); laparoscopic surgery to excise the growths; or Uterine artery embolization (UAE) - a minimally invasive surgery to cut off blood supply to the fibroids.