Novato hospital offers first uterine growth treatment in Marin

Sutter Health Novato Community Hospital is now offering the first procedure in Marin County to treat painful uterine growths without the need to perform major surgery or remove the uterus.

Known as the Acessa procedure, the treatment uses radiofrequency and ultrasound to locate and treat uterine fibroids. These fibroids are a common muscular growth found on the wall of the uterus that can cause a variety of painful symptoms and pregnancy complications.

Corte Madera resident Dr. Katherine Hsiao of the Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation, who performs the procedure in San Francisco and now in Marin, said the technique has a variety of benefits compared to other treatment options such as removing the uterus.

“This is truly the first innovative option we have as far as procedures for women in the last decade,” Hsiao said. “Besides a hysterectomy, the other option would be to have surgery to remove the fibroids but retain the uterus. But that involves stitching the uterus, longer surgery and more blood loss. The advantage of Acessa is it’s outpatient, it’s got minimal downtime, it’s a quicker recovery.”

Hsiao said about 70%-80% of women will develop these growths by the age of 50, with Black and Latina women being disproportionately affected by them. The size of growths and their impacts can vary.

“I’ve seen them as small as a pea and as large as a basketball,” Hsiao said.

The growths are generally non-cancerous, Hsaio said, but do cause a variety of issues including heavy periods that can cause anemia, reproductive issues, pregnancy complications including recurrent miscarriages, frequent urination and pain.

One of the most common ways to address uterine fibroids is through either surgical removal of the growths or removal of the uterus through a hysterectomy, Hsiao said. More than 600,000 hysterectomies are performed each year in the U.S. The most common reason unrelated to cancer is typically excessive bleeding caused by uterine fibroids

“Many women will delay having any intervention or procedure because they want something that will preserve their uterus,” Hsiao said.

The Acessa procedure was developed by the Massachusetts-based Hologic medical technology company and received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval in 2012.

The procedure uses less invasive surgery, only requiring small keyhole-sized incisions in the abdomen and a slender camera through the naval, Hsiao said. The fibroids are then mapped out using an ultrasound probe. A radiofrequency probe is used to heat the fibroids using microwaves, causing the growths to denature and soften.

“It will go from the texture of a baseball to the texture of a marshmallow and shrinks the fibroids,”  Hsiao said.

The procedure works to alleviate the symptoms without having to surgically remove them, Hsiao said. It is appropriate for most non-cancerous fibroids but is not for excessively large fibroids that would need to be removed, she said.

Corte Madera resident Candy Lee was the first woman to undergo the procedure at Novato Community Hospital since it became available in January.

Lee said she was experiencing heavy periods for years and was later diagnosed with several uterine fibroids. Hoping to avoid a hysterectomy, she found Hsiao and was able to undergo the procedure in Novato.

“It’s been great. I don’t have that heavy period anymore,” Lee said. “I don’t have any pain or discomfort. All the initial swelling from the surgery was pretty much gone after two to three weeks. It was pretty easy. It was the first and only surgery I’ve ever had.”