Morcellation Media Monitoring 06/27/2016

Client Attorney Privileged/Attorney Work Product/At Request of Counsel

Morcellation

1. Black Women More Likely To Have Uterine Fibroids, Uterine Sarcoma

   Jun 26, 2016 | Righting Injustice

   By Jennifer Walker-Journey
   
   
   The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns that power morcellation, a surgical tool used to perform hysterectomies or uterine fibroid removals, should not be used on most women because it could spread undiagnoseduterine cancer and worsen the odds of survival. The Root reports that black women may be at greater risk for cancer spread from power morcellation.

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Client Attorney Privileged/Attorney Work Product/At Request of Counsel

Morcellation

1. Black Women More Likely To Have Uterine Fibroids, Uterine Sarcoma

   Jun 26, 2016 | Righting Injustice

   By Jennifer Walker-Journey

   The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns that power morcellation, a surgical tool used to perform hysterectomies or uterine fibroid removals, should not be used on most women because it could spread undiagnoseduterine cancer and worsen the odds of survival. The Root reports that black women may be at greater risk for cancer spread from power morcellation.

   Limiting power morcellation for most women by the FDA was taken as a blow by some surgeons who saw the convenience of the procedures over open surgery.Power morcellation is less invasive so there is a lower risk for infection. The procedure also leaves less scar tissue and offers shorter recovery so women can return to work sooner. But is it worth taking a gamble that no cancer is present?

   Some forms of uterine cancer can be diagnosed before the tumor is removed. But others, such as a type of uterine sarcoma called leiomyosarcoma, cannot be diagnosed until the tissue is removed. Its symptoms are also similar to uterine fibroids – with heavy or unusual bleeding, abdominal pain, and painful sexual intercourse. So misdiagnosis, though rare, is possible. About one in 350 women have leiomyosarcoma.

   Black women age 50 and older are disproportionately more likely than white women of the same age to have symptomatic uterine fibroids. An expert at a 2014 FDA hearing involving safety risks with power morcellators said that black women are also two to three times more likely to have leiomyosarcoma compared to white women.

   The FDA hearing brought to light how power morcellator procedures were like playing Russian roulette with women’s lives, and resulted in a black box warning and an agency recommendation that the procedure not be used on most women due to the risk of cancer spread.

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