Experts have estimated that within the United States over 650,000 women will have a hysterectomy and/or myomectomy (otherwise known as fibroid removal surgery) to manage symptomatic uterine fibroids. With these types of surgeries, it has become increasingly common over the last decade to use power morcellators in order to perform minimally invasive hysterectomies and myomectomies in lieu of traditional open exposure surgeries.

However, morcellation and minimally invasive hysterectomy and myomectomy are not risk-free procedures. In some cases, a mass of tissue may be identified as a benign fibroid, when it may in fact be an unsuspected uterine cancer mass, otherwise known as uterine leiomyosarcoma.

If a morcellation device were to drill into this area as it would in a routine fibroid removal surgery, instead of safely shredding the benign mass for removal, the morcellator would allegedly spread the malignant, cancerous cells into a woman’s pelvic or abdominal cavity.

The increased risk of cancer due to morcellation has been known or at least suspected by the medical community for a few years now and has come under heavy scrutiny by several surgeons and researchers.

According to one study conducted by Dr. Michael A. Seidman and his colleagues, “while additional study is warranted, these data suggest uterine morcellation carries a risk of disseminating unexpected malignancy with apparent associated increase in mortality much higher than appreciated currently.”

While some physicians have recommended the use of a surgical bag during morcellation surgery in order to prevent or contain the spread of potentially malignant cancer cells, other doctors are moving to get rid of morcellation and power morcellators all together, especially when it comes to a hysterectomy or fibroid removal surgery.

Because of the alleged pain, long-lasting damages, and increased risk of cancer and death due to a morcellator spreading cancerous cells, many women in the United States are pursuing morcellation lawsuits or are joining morcellation cancer class action lawsuits.

What is a Morcellator?

The powered surgical instrument known as a morcellator has been commonly used in laparoscopic surgeries to remove large masses of tissue from the abdominal or pelvic region with minimal invasiveness. In order to accomplish this, a morcellator is used to drill a small hole into the surgical area and shred large tissues and fibers to facilitate easy extraction of these bodily tissues.

While power morcellation surgeries have had great success, it has recently been discovered that there is an increased risk of cancer when a power morcellator is used in laparoscopic, hysterectomy and myomectomy surgeries.

Dangers Associated with Power Morcellators

Although morcellation has become a common surgical procedure over the past decade, it has been discovered that power morcellators may carry potentially life-threatening risks. In the short term, a power morcellator can cause severe damage to surrounding organs, such as the uterus, bowels, bladder, pancreas, and spleen, during a laparoscopic surgery.

With the increased number of research reports linking power morcellators with the spread of cancerous cells during surgery, and ever increasing resistance to morcellation within the medical community, it is possible that other methods of laparoscopic surgery will become more common within the U.S.

For now, women who have undergone hysterectomy or myomectomy surgery where a morcellator was used and allegedly developed cancer or had cancer cells spread to other parts of the body as a result, may be able to find legal recourse by filing a morcellator cancer lawsuit or by  joining a morcellation cancer class action lawsuit.