A Prospective, Multicenter, Clinical Trial Evaluating the Safety and Effectiveness of the Cerene Device to Treat Heavy Menstrual Bleeding

Abstract

Study objective: To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of a novel cryoablation device (Cerene Cryotherapy Device, Channel Medsystems, Emeryville, CA) in premenopausal women with heavy menstrual bleeding owing to benign causes.

Design: A prospective, multi-center, single-arm, open label, non-randomized study.

Setting: At 11 academic and private practices in North America: 8 clinic sites in the United States, and 3 outpatient hospital sites (1 in Mexico and 2 in Canada).

Patients: A total of 242 subjects comprise the intent-to-treat population. Subject demographics were similar to other published endometrial ablation studies performed.

Interventions: Subjects were treated with a single-use disposable cryoablation device (Cerene) which delivers a 2.5-minute treatment to the endometrium. Analgesia and local anesthesia were administered per investigator discretion; intravenous sedation was used in only 3% of subjects and no general anesthesia was used.

Measurements and main results: There were no device or procedure-related serious adverse events, nor unanticipated adverse device effects. Cerene cryoablation was effective in reducing menstrual blood loss, which was measured by pictorial blood loss assessment chart (PBLAC) score. Mean score dropped from 360.6 at pretreatment (±332.1) to 51 at 12 months posttreatment (±64.1), with 81% of 230 evaluable subjects reporting a PBLAC score of ≤75 and 85% of evaluable subjects reporting a PBLAC score of ≤ 100. The median pain rating was ≤2 (mild) throughout the treatment. Of 223 subjects that underwent hysteroscopic evaluation at 12 months, the uterine cavity was visualized in 220 subjects. Quality of life improved with 90% of reporting subjects indicating satisfied or very satisfied at month 12.

Conclusion: This study demonstrated that Cerene cryoablation is safe and effective, offering the benefits of reduced menstrual blood loss with limited use of pain medication, high patient tolerability, quality of life improvement, and preserved access to the uterine cavity.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02842736.

Keywords: Abnormal uterine bleeding; Cryoablation; Hysteroscopy; Non-resectoscopic endometrial ablation.