Plaintiff Anita W. of Georgia is suing Gyrus ACMI and related companies, claiming their PKS PlasmaSORD Bipolar Morcellator is to blame for aggravating her malignant uterine cancer.

Anita claims that she underwent laparoscopic surgery in August 2009 that included use of a PlasmaSORD morcellator to morcellate her uterus. Unknown to Anita or her doctors at the time of her surgery, she had a uterine malignancy that was later diagnosed as a leiomyosarcoma.

Anita now alleges the PlasmaSORD morcellator cut the malignant cancer cells loose and spread them through her abdomen, causing an upstage in her cancer. This means that her cancer accelerated from a lower stage, or less extensive, to a higher stage, or more extensive.

Anita alleges the warning information Gyrus provided for the PlasmaSORD morcellator did not mention any risk of upstaging, dissemination, or seeding of malignant cancer cells associated with use of the morcellator. She attributes the upstaging of her cancer to a purposeful effort on Gyrus’s part to conceal the risk of morcellator cancer.

Power Morcellators and Uterine Cancer

The risk of cancer upstaging associated with power morcellation has been known since at least 1991, as evidenced by the patent for a surgical tissue bag. The bag itself was designed to contain loosened tissue and to prevent it from spreading. The patent specifically mentions the possibility of upstaging cancer if malignant cells are cut loose and dispersed during morcellation.

Anita’s morcellator cancer lawsuit cites several additional pieces of scientific literature, published from 1997 through 2010, warning of the danger of spreading so-called “occult cancer” via morcellation. She also cites literature from as early as 1990, showing that the existence of occult cancer in women undergoing surgery for uterine fibroids occurred at a rate as high as 1 in 140, even though Gyrus’s marketing claimed a much more favorable rate of 1 in 10,000. Based on that information, she claims Gyrus was on reasonable notice of the risk that power morcellation might spread occult cancer, and therefore had a duty to warn patients and their doctors of that risk.

Studies show that malignant uterine cancers like leiomyosarcomas are difficult to identify before surgery because of their resemblance to benign uterine fibroids. Leiomyosarcoma is also a notoriously deadly form of cancer. The five-year survival rate for patients with advanced-stage leiomyoscarcoma is less than 10 percent.

Anita’s morcellator cancer lawsuit cites studies showing that morcellation, in addition to spreading the cancer, can make it more difficult to identify the cancer after surgery by cutting the specimen tissue into pieces too small for a proper evaluation.

Anita is raising claims in this morcellation cancer lawsuit, including: strict liability for failure to warn; strict liability for defective product design; negligence; negligent design; fraud, misrepresentation, and suppression of vital safety information; constructive fraud; and breach of warranties. She seeks a damage award of over $50,000 to compensate for her pain and suffering and for her physical and psychological injuries, both past and present. She also seeks an award of punitive damages against Gyrus, arguing the defendants’ actions were “reckless and without regard for the public’s safety and welfare.”

The Morcellator Cancer Lawsuit is Case No. 150401310, in Pennsylvania State Court for Philadelphia County.