According to a growing number of lawsuits, morcellator risks are a serious concern which includes the spread of deadly cancers.

Plaintiffs involved in lawsuits allege that the use of surgical morcellator devices can lead to the spread of cancers throughout a patient’s body, drastically increasing their overall risk of injury and death.

Plaintiffs believe that the morcellator risks may not be worth the lessened recovery time.

What is a Power Morcellator?

The use of power morcellators was first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) back in 1991. These medical devices are commonly used during hysterectomy surgeries.

Since their approval in the early 90s, these devices have grown increasingly more common in hysterectomies and myomectomies, and their use has spread across the country.

Power morcellators are considered minimally invasive, making tiny incisions during surgeries. Minimally invasive surgeries are often considered to be ideal, given that smaller surgical wounds can help reduce recovery time and limit complications.

During surgery, morcellators cut away and shred unwanted tissue so that it can be more easily removed.

However, this process of shredding tissue into tiny pieces can result in devastating consequences.

Indeed, it is because of the surgical device’s ability to shred fibroids that the morcellation process has been linked with the increased spread of hidden uterine cancer fibroids.

Spreading cancer cells in this manner can dramatically increase the rapidity of the cancer’s spread, placing patients at greater risk and worsening their ultimate prognosis.

It is important to distinguish between something that causes cancer and something that spreads cancer cells; morcellators, as far as current studies are aware, do not cause cancer, and instead spread undetected cancer that already exists.

As a morcellator device cuts up uterine fibroids for surgery, it may also cut up and scatter uterine cancer cells that have not yet been detected. This allows a patient’s undetected cancer to spread farther and more quickly, which can put them at greater risk.

In response to reports of these morcellator risks, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released a safety alert in 2014, warning consumers that power morcellation may place patients with undetected uterine cancer at a more substantial risk.

While this may seem like an unlikely scenario, the risk of patients with undetected uterine cancer undergoing power morcellation is actually fairly significant. According to the FDA, around 1 in 350 women who undergo surgery with a power morcellator may have undetected uterine cancer.

Morcellation risks are only one of the dangers of these devices. Morcellation can also have serious side effects for patients without cancer. Noncancerous fibroids can be spread throughout the body, causing pelvic pain or prolonged menstrual bleeding.

Morcellator Risks Lawsuits

Ethicon and other manufacturers of power morcellation devices have been hit with a growing number of lawsuits regarding morecellation cancer risks.

Patients who have been diagnosed with uterine cancer following morcellation surgery allege that their cancer growth would not have been so rapid or dangerous had manufacturers properly warned of morcellator risks, and had morcellation been avoided during surgery.

Lawsuits claim that plaintiffs injured by power morcellation would not have agreed to the procedure if they had been properly warned of the risks for those with undetected uterine cancer, and would have instead chosen an alternative method of surgery without a morcellation device.

If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with uterine cancer after undergoing morcellation surgery, you may be able to file a morcellation lawsuit against power morcellator manufacturers.