International patients

The treatment includes the airport-hospital-airport transfers and up to a two-night stay at the Holiday Inn hotel, that is located within our facilities.

Refer to our International patients section

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International long distance: Call (52 55) 5171 6440.
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Award-winning technology

In 2008 ExAblate was acclaimed by the World Economic Forum as one of the Technology Pioneers of the health world, due to its innovation and potential to treat other serious diseases like osseous metastasis and breast, liver, brain, and prostate cancers.

Only those companies whose innovations have the potential to enhance life are chosen as Technology Pioneers.

Information for Physicians

Recognized and Awarded High Technology

ExAblate 2000 is a non-invasive procedure for the treatment of uterine myomas in external patients, without ionizing radiation, practically without collateral effects, and with a fast recovery period (24 to 36 hours, at home). The treatment is performed by a magnetic resonance guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS), in real time.

It was approved for its use by the European Economic Community in 2002 and by the Federal Drugs Administration (FDA) of the United States in 2004. The World Economic Forum recognized it in 2008 as a Technological Pioneer in the health technology field.

There are only two countries in Latin America that can provide this technology: Brazil and Mexico. ExAblate 2000 is only available in Mexico at the Médica Sur Magnetic Resonance Imaging Unit.

How does ExAblate work?

ExAblate is a procedure that combines two technologies: a high intensity ultrasound that ablates (burns) the myoma tissue by means of heat waves, and a magnetic resonance used to determine with millimetric precision the area to be treated and to live monitor the process of ablation as the procedure is performed.

The ultrasound

The ultrasound produces energy waves that pass through the skin, muscle, fat, and other tissues. When it is used with diagnostic purposes, the intensity of the ultrasound graphic waves is very low, which is why they do not cause any effects on the tissues or cells.

When high-intensity waves are focused over a small-sized area and a specific target, the temperature of the abnormal tissue rises to the point where its cellular death is produced, rendering a therapeutic effect from there on.

A transducer (the device that converts the electric energy into ultrasonic energy) emits the waves through a conical contour. These high intensity waves penetrate the body in a diffused way until focusing onto a specific zone of the myoma. When the waves concentrate on the same point, the fibroid tissue undergoes a protein denaturalization, causing the cellular death or coagulative necrosis of the myoma.

Each of these wave firings is called “sonication”. The duration of each sonication lasts around 20 seconds, and several of them are required to ablate the myomas thoroughly in a procedure that lasts 2 to 4 hours, depending on the number and size of the myomas.

The magnetic resonance

At the beginning of the procedure the magnetic resonance provides images of high anatomical precision in three dimensions, which display the tumor and the adjacent organs. These images are used to exactly establish the position of the patient and the plan or path of treatment.

From this point on the equipment of magnetic resonance provides an exact monitoring of what happens during the treatment: as the sonications are issued forth, the equipment reports the temperature changes, in a way that enables the doctor to direct (and adjust, if necessary) the ultrasonic waves for a complete coverage and treatment of the myomas.

Advantages of the magnetic resonance as a guide for the procedure

High precision in the differentiation of tissues.
Three-dimensional images of the objective.
Does not involve ionizing radiation.
Clear differentiation between the tissue under treatment and the virgin tissue.
Updated, real-time reporting of anatomical images during the treatment, to ensure that the adjacent tissues are not affected and that the tumor is treated thoroughly.

ExAblate procedure

Result

The result is a considerable diminution of the size and consistency of the myomas, in addition to the cessation of their biological activity. The patient experiences an immediate improvement in the symptomatology, and in the months to come, as the body goes absorbing the dead cells of the myoma, the fibroid continues decreasing in size, up to a significantly smaller fraction of its original dimension; thus, the symptoms that it used to cause disappear.

By means of this sonicating treatment, the biological activity of the myomas is brought to an end and the fibroids cannot grow back again. New myomas could appear in the future in other areas of the uterus (a possibility that can happen regardless of the type of treatment -like myomectomy or selective embolization of the uterine artery- because the treatment itself is therapeutic, not preventive), but NEVER in the areas that have been treated with ExAblate.

After 6 months, 70.6 percent of the women submitted to the ablation procedure have reported very significant improvements in relation to the uterine symptoms that the myomas used to cause, without the need of having their uterus removed. Another important piece of information is that within the first month after the treatment, the patients missed only one day or a maximum of two days of work, compared with the average of 18 days missed by the group of patients who had a myomectomy or a hysterectomy, the period of recovery time that they required.

How does the cost–benefit relation of the ExAblate patients compare with other myoma methods of treating myomas?

In a study published in April 2008 by the International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (BJOG), a comparison of the cost–benefit relation from the short to the medium term was carried out for the main available methods of treating myomas: ExAblate magnetic resonance guided focused ultrasound, hysterectomy, myomectomy, and selective embolization of the uterine artery. The results reported that there was a 10% difference in economic terms in favor of ExAblate 2000, and even a higher level of greater satisfaction in terms of the patients’ life quality.

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ExAblate benefits

It does not involve a major surgery, which is why it doesn't signify a major cost and a greater risk for the life quality of the patient.
It preserves the patient's uterus, and with this, her possibility of getting pregnant in the future.
It does not require a hospital stay.
The patient can resume her daily activities within 24 to 36 hours after the treatment.
There is an immediate diminution of the symptoms caused by the myomas, which continue decreasing further in the ensuing months.

What are the possible risks and complications associated to ExAblate?

Immediate possible risks:

Mild bleeding during or after the procedure.
Abdominal or colic pain.
Nausea.
Fever (occasionally).
Minor skin burns.
Backache or leg pain (postural) that may persist for some days.
Mild urinary tract infection.

Possible risks in no longer than 14 days after the procedure:

Occasional burns with ulceration in the abdominal skin.
Temporary inflammation of the pelvic region nerves.

Less habitual potential risks:

Other fibroids may appear in the future and produce the same symptoms, though never in the same region where they have been ablated.
The possibility that one treatment results unsuccessful and that a subsequent treatment is necessary.
Until mid-2008, over 3,500 ExAblate procedures had been performed around the world. Though NONE of these treatments have reported evidence of any major side effects, there is in theory a potential possibility of risks such as gynecological infection, injury of organs adjacent to the uterus, or blood clots.

Who cannot be treated with ExAblate?

Not every patient is eligible for the ExAblate treatment. The following cases are excluded:

Pregnant women.
Patients with pedunculated fibroids or with fibroids close to important organs like the spine or the intestines.
Patients who have fibroids in inaccessible places for the ExAblate device.
Patients who cannot have magnetic resonance studies performed.
Patients with metallic implants or cardiac pacemakers.
Patients with a body weight surpassing the 100 kilograms (220 pounds).
Patients with an extraordinarily large uterus.
Patients who have had liposuction in the lower abdomen.

Médica Sur Hospital: neutrality and ethics when recommending a treatment.

Standing by the oath we have taken as doctors to exert our profession, we at Médica Sur work in favor of our patients’ interest, always based upon a strict code of ethics. For this reason, we recommend what we think is best for our patients, and not for our own personal business or interest.

We will only take in as patients those women who, by their characteristics and circumstances, will benefit the most from each procedure, without the concern of mercantile calculations or of moral benefits for Médica Sur or any of its doctors.

Doctors who refer us patients to explore the possibility of a treatment with ExAblate 2000 can be sure that we will only recommend it if we have scientific proof and indubitable evidence that is the most convenient therapeutic method for them.

This is the most innovative treatment to bring to an end the symptoms caused by uterine fibroids in just four hours, without invasive surgery.
Reincorporate yourself to daily life in 24 hours!