Any surgical procedure carries risks, but what many women are now learning is that a tool employed during for morcellation of fibroids be the cause of their morcellation cancer symptoms.

Power morcellators are surgical tools used for removing fibroids. Morcellators became popular because they involve only a small incision through which a surgeon can cut (or “morcellate”) tissue and remove it in pieces from the patient’s body.

This less invasive procedure allows patients a speedier recovery and is also considered easier to perform than traditional surgery.

Power Morcellation Surgery

Approximately 600,000 women undergo hysterectomy each year in the United States, and half of those surgeries involve minimally invasive procedures.

Of those 300,000 surgeries, about 12 percent involve power morcellators. Another 250,000 women undergo laparoscopic surgery annually for morcellation of fibroids, or leiomyomas.

These growths form a round, rubbery mass on the uterine’s muscle tissue, and are most common during a woman’s childbearing years.

Fibroids may cause excessive bleeding, pressure, and pain. Morcellation of fibroids does not require removal of the uterus.

All together, about 60,000 women each year undergo uterine surgeries involving power morcellators.

Morcellation Cancer Symptoms

But many of these women who have undiagnosed uterine cancer may be at a higher risk of those cells spreading if they undergo medical procedures in which power morcellators are used.

These instruments can cause additional harm by releasing concealed cancerous cells in early developmental stages during the process of breaking up fibroids or other growths.

By releasing these cancerous cells, morcellators allow them to grow in new and dangerous areas of the body where they would not have otherwise spread so quickly.

Morcellators may actually advance cancers from early stages to later stages.

Some morcellation cancer symptoms that could signal upstaged cancer after morcellation, include:

• Vaginal bleeding or spotting, between periods or especially after menopause
• Vaginal discharge
• Pelvic or abdominal pain or a mass
• Pelvic or abdominal swelling
• Weight loss
• Nausea or vomiting

Other morcellation cancer symptoms include back pain and nerve issues if the tumor affects organs or bones such as the spinal cord.

FDA Morcellation Warning

According, to a 2014 FDA warning, approximately 1 in 350 women undergoing hysterectomy surgery or myomectomy surgery for the treatment of fibroids is found to have an unsuspected uterine sarcoma, a type of uterine cancer that includes leiomyosarcoma.

“If laparoscopic power morcellation is performed in women with unsuspected uterine sarcoma, there is a risk that the procedure will spread the cancerous tissue within the abdomen and pelvis, significantly worsening the patient’s likelihood of long-term survival. For this reason, and because there is no reliable method for predicting whether a woman with fibroids may have a uterine sarcoma, the FDA discourages the use of laparoscopic power morcellation during hysterectomy or myomectomy for uterine fibroids.”

If you or a family member are experiencing morcellation cancer symptoms of have been diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma or uterine cancer you believe is linked to a surgery performed using a laparoscopic power morcellator, you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries.

While a financial award can not take away your pain and suffering, it can help with medical expenses and help to hold the companies who make these devices accountable for failing to warn about the dangers and risks associated with power morcellators.