High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) ablation versus surgical interventions for the treatment of symptomatic uterine fibroids: a meta-analysis

To compare the treatment success and safety of ultrasound- and MR-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) with surgery for treating symptomatic uterine fibroids.

We searched studies comparing HIFU with surgery for fibroids in different databases from January 2000 to July 2020. The mean difference (MD) or relative risk (RR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) for different outcome parameters was synthesized.

We included 10 studies involving 4450 women. Compared with the surgery group, the decrease in uterine fibroid severity score at 6- and 12-month follow-up was higher in the HIFU group (MD − 4.16, 95% CI − 7.39 to − 0.94, and MD − 2.44, 95% CI − 3.67 to − 1.20, p < 0.05). The increase in quality-of-life (QoL) score at 6- and 12-month follow-up was higher in the HIFU group (MD 2.13, 95% CI 0.86 to 3.14, and MD 2.34, 95% CI 0.82 to 3.85, p < 0.05). The duration of hospital stay and the time to return to work was shorter in the HIFU group (MD − 3.41 days, 95% CI − 5.11 to − 1.70, and MD − 11.61 days, 95% CI − 19.73 to − 3.50, p < 0.05). The incidence of significant complications was lower in the HIFU group (RR 0.33, 95% CI 0.13 to 0.81, p < 0.05). The differences in the outcomes of adverse events, symptom recurrence, re-intervention, and pregnancy were not statistically significant (p > 0.05).

HIFU is superior to surgery in terms of symptomatic relief, improvement in QoL, recovery, and significant complications. However, HIFU showed comparable effects to surgery regarding the incidence of adverse events, symptom recurrence, re-intervention, and pregnancy.