Two new studies are adding to mounting evidence that surgery tools known as power morcellators can spread hidden uterine cancer. The medical devices already face scrutiny from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has warned about the cancer risk and has imposed restrictions on their use.

A University of Michigan study published last month in Obstetrics & Gynecology found that one in 368 women undergoing a hysterectomy or uterine fibroid surgery had undetected uterine sarcoma. Cells from these cancers, including a deadly type called leiomyosarcoma, could be spread throughout the abdomen when a morcellator is used during the surgery. The effect can upstage the cancer, making it more difficult to treat.

Researchers gathered information from nearly 7,500 women who had hysterectomies to conduct their study.

“No reliable predictors of uterine sarcoma exist and caution is warranted in preoperative planning for hysterectomy,” study authors concluded.

In the second study, researchers from Columbia University found lower rates of uterine cancer in women who underwent myomectomy procedures, which involve the removal of uterine fibroids while keeping the uterus intact, with the intent to preserve a woman’s ability to have children.

In their study, uterine cancer was found in one of 528 women who underwent myomectomy procedures without the use of power morcellators, and in one in 1,073 who did undergo a myomectomy with morcellation. They found that the rate of any pathologic finding, such as cancer in women who did not have morcellation surgery was one in 150 and 1 in 230 for women who have a morcellator used during surgery.

The researchers said that while the risk of uterine cancer for women who underwent uterine fibroid surgery, usually performed in younger women, is rare, that risk appears to increase with age.

Risks and Side Effects of Power Morcellators

Power morcellators can allow surgeons to perform minimally invasive surgery of large tissue that otherwise could not be pulled through small incisions. However, power morcellation is currently under critical review by the FDA as it considers banning the device due to the potentially life-threatening risks associated with its use, especially during laparoscopic surgery.

One of the most alarming risks associated with power morcellators is the potential for the device to spread and upstage undetected malignant uterine cancer during a laparoscopic hysterectomy or myomectomy, significantly worsening a patient’s cancer prognosis.

While this risk is difficult to calculate, the FDA has concluded that there is no reliable method for preoperatively predicting whether a woman with uterine fibroids may have a uterine sarcoma.

Based on a quantitative assessment of power morcellation released in April, the FDA states that one in 350 women undergoing hysterectomy or myomectomy for the treatment of uterine fibroids has an undetected uterine cancer, such as leiomyosarcoma, a particularly aggressive uterine sarcoma with an already poor prognosis.

Power Morcellator Lawsuits

Women who have been harmed by power morcellators are beginning to file power morcellator cancer lawsuits against the manufacturers of power morcellators for their allegedly dangerous products. Some women died from their upstaged cancers, and their families also filed morcellation cancer lawsuits against the device manufacturers.

If you have been diagnosed with a uterine sarcoma after a surgery involving a power morcellator, or had fibroids or uterine tissue removed from other organs after such a surgery, you should consult an attorney to assess your legal options.