Post-Market Safety of Laparoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Radiofrequency Ablation

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Postoperative safety outcomes with laparoscopic intra-abdominal ultrasound-guided radiofrequency ablation, as performed by gynecologic surgeons new to the procedure, were evaluated and compared to the premarket, pivotal study. Post-procedure feedback from surgeons was reported. METHODS: This was a post-market, prospective, single-arm analysis with 4 to 8 weeks follow-up among surgeons (n = 29) with varying levels of laparoscopic surgery experience participating in the ongoing, multinational Treatment Results of Uterine Sparing Technologies randomized clinical trial. Patients were premenopausal adult women (n = 110) desiring uterine-conserving treatment for symptomatic fibroids. During run-in, surgeons received proctored training. Following training, and after performing ≥ 2 procedures, surgeons provided self-assessment and feedback using a standardized form. RESULTS: Surgeons performed 105 procedures with 100 per-protocol patients. The average number of proctored cases per surgeon was 2.48. No acute (≤ 48 hours) serious adverse events occurred (0/101, 0.0%) compared with 2 acute serious adverse events in the premarket study (2/137, 1.46%). Both studies reported 1 near-term (∼30 days) serious adverse event (< 1% for both). In this study, the near-term complication was fever of unknown origin requiring hospitalization related to uterine entry/manipulation. This was categorized as probably device-related; the patient was treated with antibiotics and discharged. Twenty-six surgeons completed the evaluation form; none reported experiencing problems with the procedure. CONCLUSION: Minimally invasive gynecologic surgeons can learn laparoscopic intraabdominal ultrasound-guided radiofrequency ablation and perform it safely (in terms of acute and near-term serious adverse events) after ≥ 2 proctored cases. There were no significant differences in safety outcomes compared to the premarket, pivotal study.