HIFU, a noninvasive and effective treatment for chyluria: 15 years of experience

The current treatment therapies for chyluria are often invasive and recurrent. Here, we investigated a novel noninvasive treatment of chyluria with high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) and evaluated its clinical efficacy.

155 patients with chyluria were treated with HIFU ablation and followed up over a period of 15 years from May 2000 to December 2015. Routine examinations including urine color observation, color Doppler ultrasound examination, blood serum test of Cr, BUN, and albumin, and detection of urinary chyle were performed before and after the treatment, 1 week, 1 and 6 months post-treatment, and followed up via telephone and other forms. We lost contact with 54 patients during the course of the study.

In the 101 complete cases, the serum levels of Cr and BUN and the color Doppler ultrasound examination did not reveal significant differences before and after the treatment. However, there was a significant increase in the hemoglobin and albumin levels, as well as the body weight after the HIFU treatment. The other 54 patients also showed an improvement of the symptoms after the HIFU treatment before losing contact.

Our results suggest that the HIFU ablation therapy is a feasible, effective, and noninvasive method for the treatment of chyluria.