Friday, May 13, 2011

Endometriosis Infertility Diagnostic Device Receives FDA Approval


A diagnostic tool that could help women who are struggling with endometriosis infertility was given approval by the FDA last week – a move that will make this available in all doctors offices.

The device, called the FemVue, is an attachment that fits standard ultrasound machines already available in doctor's offices. Doctors can use the FemVue to quickly and inexpensively perform an ultrasound of a woman's fallopian tubes in the office, without having to refer her elsewhere for standard radiation diagnostics.

Fallopian tube evaluation is typically the first line of diagnostics used when a woman and her partner are having trouble becoming pregnant. An ultrasound image could tell a health care practitioner whether or not the women has any blockage of her tubes due to endometriosis infertility, scarring from infection, or other significant growth. Traditionally, this type of evaluation is done via hysterosalpingography (HSG) which requires a woman to receive a small amount of contrast material trans vaginally while an Xray machine takes images.

Dr. Charles E. Miller, President and Medical Director of the Advanced Gynecologic Surgery Institute, remarked, "I see FemVue as a marked improvement over standard fluoroscopic HSG. It allows me the ability, in the office, to precisely evaluate the cavity, myometrium, and for the first time fallopian tubes. It is my diagnostic procedure of choice for evaluating fallopian tubes."

Endometriosis affects over 5.5 million women in North America. It can cause damage to the ovaries or block the fallopian tubes. Currently endometriosis infertility treatment includes surgery, medications, dietary changes, and assisted reproductive technology techniques.

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