Mumbai, Jan 8 (IANS) A two-member team of municipal hospital doctors, with help from some IIT engineers and a US-based company, have developed a new device offering revolutionary treatment for menorrhagia or heavy menstrual bleeding among women, an official said here Sunday.The device was the brainchild of doctors — Y. S. Nandanwar and Chinmay Pataki — of the civic-run Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College, also known as Sion Hospital.

“Around the world, more than one-third of all women, in the 35-plus age group, suffer from menorrhagia, or excessive bleeding during menstruation. One of the most common treatment is hysterectomy (removal of the uterus), which many women do not want to undergo,” explained Pataki.

Developments in modern medicine offer non-surgical options, one of them being the endometrial ablation technique.

“Even though this technology is well-established in the world, there have been few shortcomings in the procedure,” said Nandanwar, who heads the hospital gynaecology department.

Nandanwar and Pataki, after intense research of over two years, have developed a Minitouch System for endometrial ablation technique, which electrically burns the inner lining of the uterus, without side-effects, within seconds.

“The new microwave energy device is barely 3mm in width and around 24 cms in length, which is inserted in the vagina and removed after just 90 seconds, giving a permanent solution to the problems of menorrhagia. It destroys the inner layer of the uterus, with consistent and uniform ablation, which is a first time development in the world,” Pataki said.

“There is no general anaesthesia, hospitalization, rest, hormonal drugs or any physical discomforts and side-effects, and the uterus is also retained,” Pataki told IANS.

“This device is a proud achievement of Sion Hospital’s gynaecology department. We hope it will be available all over India by April, and this will be among the first hospitals in the world to offer this new treatment option,” a proud Nandanwar said.

The new device has already been put to commercial use in the U.S. and Europe, while the prestigious Journal of Minimal Invasive Gynaecology, U.S., has published the findings.