Establishment of a scoring system for predicting the difficulty level of high-intensity focussed ultrasound ablation of uterine fibroids

AbstractPurpose: To establish a scoring system that predicts the difficulty level of high-intensity focussed ultrasound (HIFU) ablation of uterine fibroids.Materials and methods: Four hundred and twenty-two patients with fibroids were enrolled. The energy efficiency factor (EEF) and sonication time were set as dependent variables, with factors possibly affecting EEF and sonication time including age, body mass index (BMI), the volume of fibroids, the location of the uterus, the type of fibroids, the signal intensity on the T2-weighted imaging (T2WI), the enhancement type, the thickness of the rectus abdominis and the subcutaneous fat layer, the distance from the anterior/posterior surface of the fibroid to the skin, and the abdominal wall scars were set as predictors for building optimal scaling regression models.Results: The volume of the fibroids, the location of the uterus, the signal intensity on T2WI, enhancement type, rectus abdominis thickness, subcutaneous fat thickness, and distance from the ante...