Power morcellation, commonly used to perform morcellator hysterectomy surgeries, has been linked with an increased risk of spreading cancer.

Essentially, power morcellation is a minimally invasive procedure, and cuts unwanted uterine tissue from a hysterectomy or myomectomy into smaller pieces that are more easily removed.

Morcellator hysterectomy surgery was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1991, and has become ever more common since then.

However, reports suggest a link between morcellator hysterectomy surgery and the increased spread of uterine cancer.

Morcellator hysterectomy surgery involves the device finely cutting up uterine fibroids for removal. However, according to reports, power morecellator devices may cut up undetected uterine cancer cells in the process, allowing them to spread more rapidly through the body.

Patients who have undetected uterine cancer going into a morcellator hysterectomy may unwittingly give their cancer a jumpstart, as cut-up uterine fibroids are spread throughout the body undetected.

It is important to recognize that there is no evidence to suggest that morcellator hysterectomy surgery actually causes uterine cancer. Rather, patients who already have uterine cancer may face increased danger from the disease if morcellator hysterectomy is allowed to spread the cancerous fibroids. This allows the undetected cancer to reach other parts of the body more rapidly, and become even more dangerous.

In April 2014, the FDA released a safety alert about the use of power morcellation. The statement acknowledged that power morcellator hysterectomy surgery to remove fibroids in the uterus could potentially spread cancer cells undetected by the doctor, placing patients at a more severe risk.

The FDA reports that about one in 350 women who go through power morcellation surgery have this dangerous, undetected uterine cancer.

Other power morcellation side effects include noncancerous fibroids causing prolonged menstrual bleeding or pelvic pain.

Morcellator Hysterectomy Lawsuits

Some of the women who have been diagnosed with uterine cancer after undergoing power morcellation during a surgery such as a hysterectomy or myomectomy claim that their cancer growth would not have been so rapid and their disease would not have been so serious had a power morcellator not been used.

Though the lawsuits do not suggest that power morcellation actually caused the cancer, they do claim that the plaintiffs would have not have agreed to the procedure had they known of the risks for people with undetected cancer.

Instead, the plaintiffs claim that they would have chosen an alternative surgical method and thus avoided the extent of the cancer had they been adequately warned of these risks.

Essentially, these lawsuits allege that the malignant uterine cancer tissue was spread and worsened because of power morcellation, ultimately worsening a patient’s chance of treatment survival.

Power morcellator lawsuits claim that morcellator manufacturers either knew or should have known about this serious and even life-threatening risk associated with their device.

If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with cancer after a morcellator hysterectomy or myomectomy fibroid surgery, you may be able to file a morcellation lawsuit.