Relatives of patients who died after surgery with power morcellators are pressuring the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban the devices. The FDA has already issued a warning regarding power morcellators, but has stopped short of a full recall even though the largest producer of power morcellators pulled its products from the market.

A power morcellator is a tool used in laparoscopic surgery. Laparoscopic surgeries, such as laparoscopic hysterectomies, use small, specialized tools to perform the bulk of a surgery within the patient’s body. This allows surgeons to  cut through less healthy tissue to perform the surgery.

However, in some procedures, like laparoscopic hysterectomies, surgeons need to remove organs or tissues that are too large to slip through the small incisions used in laparoscopic surgery. To deal with this, surgeons use power morcellators to cut these tissues into smaller pieces before removing them. However, it is alleged that this process may carry serious risks.

According to some studies, many women who have laparoscopic hysterectomies may have cancers, such as leiomyosarcomas, bound up in their uterine tissues. When power morcellators cut up these tissues, they could theoretically spread these cancers throughout the abdomen.

Researchers have found conflicting reports of how common this is, but the FDA based its actions on research that suggests that one of every 350 women who have laparoscopic hysterectomies or related procedures such as fibroid removal surgeries may have leimoyosarcomas that could be exacerbated by power morcellators.

The FDA has already taken some action on power morcellators. In April, the FDA issued a statement “discouraging” the use of power morcellators for laparoscopic surgery and fibroid removal surgeries. However, the FDA stopped short of banning power morcellators, but called for a meeting of gynecological surgeons and other experts to figure out if additional steps are necessary.

However, some feel that the FDA’s action on power morcellators is not enough. In an article in the Rochester, N.Y. newspaper the Democrat & Chronicle, the uncle of a woman who died from leiomyosarcoma after she had fibroid removal surgery published an open letter to officials at the FDA.

In his letter, Gene Manley states that his niece, Brenda Leuzzi, died in the last week of October. In 2012, Leuzzi had fibroid removal surgery. Manley had also testified before the FDA about risks associated with power morcellators. Manley states that there is no way to tell if fibroids are benign or if they bear leiomyosarcomas which could be aggravated by power morcellators. According to surgeons that Manley has spoken with, “doctors think morcellation is medical malfeasance” when used to remove tumors, benign or otherwise. In his letter, he states that no one should suffer what his niece went though.