Gynecologists and patients across the country are awaiting the announcement of the FDA’s decision on whether to ban morcellation surgery, a procedure that uses a medical device known as a morcellator to chop uterine tissue into tiny pieces that can be removed through a small incision in the abdomen. The procedure is used in a variety of gynecological surgeries the remove fibroids, ovaries, fallopian tubes, and the uterus.

In April, the FDA issued a safety notice discouraging the use of laparoscopic power morecellation for hysterectomies and myomectomies (the removal of uterine fibroids) after analyzing data showing the procedure may unwittingly spread unsuspected cancerous tissue outside the uterus.

Morcellation cancer lawyers have been seeking women who were diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma (LMS), uterine sarcoma or other cancer within two years after their initial surgery to remove fibroids, the uterus, ovaries or fallopian tubes. So far dozens of morcellation cancer lawsuits have already been filed against the manufacturers of these devices for failing to warn consumers and the medical community about this risk.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is also reviewing the published scientific literature and will provide the medical community with best-practice guidelines. The college is studying the incidence of undiagnosed uterine sarcomas.

Some 50,000 women annually undergo hysterectomy morcellation surgery, and 1 in 350 women who have had a robotic hysterectomy or myomectomy are found to have uterine sarcoma, a type of uterine cancer.

Many doctors are continuing to use the morcellator despite Johnson & Johnson — which manufactures the laparoscopic morcellator — having removed the device from the market and many hospitals issuing moratoriums on them, the Wall Street Journal reports. In addition to hysterectomy and myomectomies, morcellators are commonly used for a procedure to remove the ovaries, known as an oophorectomy, and another to take out the fallopian tubes (salpingectomy).

“The tool slices tissue into fragments so it can be removed through small incisions, but the procedure can leave bits of tissue behind that can continue to grow and spread, whether benign or unexpectedly malignant,” according to WSJ.

The issue of morcellators spreading cancerous tissue was raised by a doctor whose wife was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer after undergoing the minimally invasive procedure during routine gynecologic surgery.

Dr. Hooman Noorchashm has blasted the FDA for purportedly putting industry interests ahead of patient safety. He’s upset about the FDA dragging its heels in issuing a decision.

He has asked the FDA commissioner, Dr. Margaret Hamburg, for the resignation of the deputy director and chief scientist at the FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health.

Women who were diagnosed with uterine cancer, edometrial cancer, ovarian sarcomas or other cancer after undergoing laparoscopic surgery using a power morcellator may have a legal claim.