Pregnancy outcomes of adenomyotic patients with primary infertility after high-intensity focused ultrasound treatment

Abstract

Objective

To evaluate the therapeutic effect of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) treatment for adenomyotic patients with primary infertility and to explore the factors that affect the pregnancy outcomes.

Materials and methods

Twenty-seven adenomyotic patients with primary infertility who underwent HIFU at HUNAN Provincial Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, China, between July 2018 and December 2022 were retrospectively reviewed. We evaluated the pregnancy outcomes and analyzed the factors that may affect pregnancy outcomes including time to conception, pregnancy approach, gestational age, delivery mode, neonatal outcomes, and complications during pregnancy and delivery.

Results

Among the 27 adenomyotic patients with primary infertility, 10 patients had a total of 11 pregnancies after HIFU treatment. Of these, eight (72%) cases were natural pregnancies and three (23%) were in vitro fertilization (IVF) pregnancies. The median time to conception was 10 (range 4–25) months. There were eight (72%) successful deliveries. The rate of full-term deliveries was 90%. Of the eight live births, four (50%) were born vaginally and four (50%) by cesarean section. No severe complications occurred. The mean birth weight of newborns was 3.1 (range: 2.3–3.9) kg; all newborns developed well without complications during postpartum and breastfeeding.

Conclusions

HIFU treatment for adenomyosis could improve fertility of patients with primary infertility. HIFU is a promising therapeutic approach for patients with adenomyosis and infertility who wish to achieve pregnancy and have live birth deliveries.

Keywords:

• High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU)
• pregnancy
• adenomyosis
• primary infertility

Disclosure statement

Zhibiao Wang is a senior consultant to Chongqing Haifu. The other authors report no conflict of interest to declare. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Data availability statement

The full access to the data will be available to researchers for purposes of research or regulatory decision making with a signed data access agreement after approval of a proposal. All data requests will be reviewed by the research committee at Chongqing Medical University and by the corresponding authors to verify whether the request is subject to any intellectual property or confidentiality obligations.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Foundation of State Key Laboratory of Ultrasound in Medicine and Engineering (Grant No.2023KFKT012)