Endometriosis: treatment with focused ultrasound becomes a therapeutic standard

Endometriosis is an extremely common, benign but highly disabling condition responsible for chronic pain and/or infertility. In France, it affects 10 to 15% of women of childbearing age. Severe alteration in personal and work quality of life can result from it.

The HCL offers a multidisciplinary care journey for endometriosis, from diagnosis to medical and surgical treatments, including medical assistance for procreation. Its teams are dedicated to promoting early diagnosis and proposing innovative treatments.

Moving towards a gentler approach to care

“Focused ultrasounds allow targeting and destroying lesions in a few minutes, without incision or scar. Patients leave the hospital just hours after treatment, with a quick reduction in pain and without alteration of their fertility,” explains Dr. Gil DUBERNARD, head of the department.

Innovation in the surgical treatment of endometriosis

The gynecology-obstetrics department at the Croix-Rousse hospital is a pioneer in using HIFU waves to treat endometriosis with rectal involvement. Developed with INSERM (LabTAU) and EDAP-TMS, this minimally invasive technique stands out from traditional methods: in minutes, it allows rapid recovery, immediate pain reduction, and preserves fertility. Since March 2025, the HCL has been offering this treatment routinely, with the capacity to treat up to 100 patients in the first year.

Learn more: Use of HIFU waves to treat endometriosis

“As medical treatments are being questioned (due to the risk of meningiomas with progestin therapy in particular), surgery will naturally play an increasingly important role in its management. Therefore, we must consider less aggressive and increasingly personalized surgical treatments to treat this disease, which let’s not forget is a functional disease that will disappear with menopause,” explains Dr. Gil DUBERNARD, head of the gynecology-obstetrics department at the Croix-Rousse hospital, and vice president of ENDAURA.

Endodol: Innovation for endometriosis with the HCL Foundation

Through the EndoDol project with the HCL Foundation, the team at the gynecology-obstetrics department of the Croix-Rousse hospital has partnered with professionals from the Chronic Pain Assessment and Treatment Consultation to offer women suffering from endometriosis an innovative approach, the only one currently in the Rhône-Alpes region that emphasizes psychological support and gentle patient mobilization. This involves offering each woman a coordinated in-hospital care journey that combines medical treatment with a non-drug approach (psycho-corporal techniques) including individual and group sessions.

Learn more: Endometriosis: Towards a less aggressive approach to care

Improving the relevance of diagnosis

A clinical examination, ultrasound, and pelvic MRI are effective tools when performed by experts. Nevertheless, sometimes it takes several years before the diagnosis is made.

Endotest Experimentation

The Ministry of Health recently selected 80 healthcare facilities to test the Endotest, an innovative saliva test for diagnosing endometriosis. In this context, the HCL plays a key role with the participation of two hospitals: Lyon Sud and Croix-Rousse.

Three day hospitals for customized diagnosis and care

The HCL, very committed to the management of endometriosis, has recently set up a comprehensive and personalized care pathway for the treatment of this condition. Patients can now benefit, in a single day and at the same location, from a thorough diagnosis and a care plan. This new pathway is accessible through referrals from the gynecology-obstetrics services of the hospitals Croix-Rousse, Femme Mère Enfant, and Lyon Sud.

A regional care pathway to improve women’s journey

As the first regional pilot pathway for endometriosis in France, the EndAURA association aims to improve women’s journey, optimize the relevance of care, inform patients and professionals, and promote research. It brings together endometriosis professionals from public and private structures throughout the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, as well as general practitioners, midwives, and patient associations like EndoFrance and Endomind.

EndAURA is chaired by Dr. François GOLFIER of the gynecology-obstetrics department of Lyon Sud hospital, president of the national endometriosis commission of the French College of Gynecologists and Obstetricians, and coordinator of the Endometriosis MOOC.

At the Femme Mère Enfant hospital, preserving fertility in the long term

The gynecology-obstetrics department at HFME plays a strategic role, particularly through its emergency gynecological consultation service (with over 12,000 visits per year) and its proximity to the pediatric department (adolescent endometriosis). The gynecologists at the Femme Mère Enfant hospital promote a multidisciplinary collaboration in the diagnostic and therapeutic management of patients with endometriosis.

The reproductive medicine and fertility preservation service led by Dr. Bruno SALLE organizes the management of endometriosis surgically and through in vitro fertilization and oocyte vitrification, to preserve fertility in the long term in cases of ovarian insufficiency or repeated surgery.