Dr. Mehmet Oz  discussed the alleged dangers of uterine cancer when women undergo a hysterectomy using a power morcellator during a recent episode of his television show.

On the Sept. 24 episode of the “Dr. Oz Show,” Dr. Oz discussed how recent medical research suggests that using a morcellator to remove benign uterine fibroids during a hysterectomy or myomectomy can allegedly lead to the spread of cancerous cells in a woman’s uterus and abdomen.

According to Dr. Oz, uterine fibroids are the number one reason a woman will choose to undergo a hysterectomy. Fibroids are benign, non-cancerous tumors that develop along a patient’s uterine wall and range in size from a quarter to a watermelon if left untreated.

Myomectomy, or fibroid removal surgery, is generally performed using a morcellator to drill a small hole into a surgical area, where a doctor will then insert other tools to extract the fibroids with minimal invasiveness.

However, because recent medical reports of power morcellators spreading cancer cells when breaking up undetected sarcomas has raised an alarm through the medical community. As a result, many power morcellators have been pulled from the American medical device market.

In last week’s episode, Dr. Oz stated that 10 percent of all hysterectomies use power morcellators. Additionally, one out of every 368 hysterectomy patients were later diagnosed with cancer, a statistic supporting the research regarding the high rate of power morcellation surgeries and the development of uterine cancer.

During this segment of the show, Dr. Oz invited his guest Dr. Larry Kaiser, dean of Temple University School of Medicine to weigh in on the morcellator cancer controversy. Dr. Kaiser and Temple Hospital  became the first hospital in the United States to take a stance on the morcellation procedure when he banned the use of morcellators in hysterectomy procedures at his hospital. This groundbreaking decision stands against the belief of the majority of the OB-GYN community, which holds that morcellators do not spread cancer.

Dangers Associated with Power Morcellators

Over the past decade, morcellation has become a commonplace and preferred surgical procedure when performing laparascopic hysterectomies and myomectomies. However, recent medical research and consumer reports alleged that morcellators, while providing a minimally invasive form of surgery, carry their own life-threatening risks.

In addition to possibly spreading cancer cells, in the short term, a power morcellator can also cause severe damage to surrounding organs in the laparoscopic surgical area, such as the uterus, bowels, bladder, and spleen.

Based on the increasing number of reports and research linking the use of power morcellators with the spread of cancerous cells during a laparoscopic surgery, it is possible that morcellation will be abandoned in favor other forms of surgical procedures for hysterectomy and myomectomy patients.

Many women who have undergone laparascopic hysterectomy or myomectomy surgeries who allegedly developed cancer after the morcellation procedure are seeking legal recourse through filing a morcellator cancer lawsuit or joining a morcellation cancer class action lawsuit.