The FDA on April 17, 2014 took a rate step of advising doctors to not remove uterine fibroids by a technique known as open power morcellation. This technique had become very popular as a tool used during minimally invasive gynecologic surgery as tumors can be removed during small abdominal incisions, reducing the pain of surgery and decreasing the time needed for the patient’s recovery. It is estimated that in the U.S. approximately 55,000 to 70,000 women have morcellation-aided hysterectomies every year. Gynecologists knew from the beginning that morcellators can drop bits of tissue. It was also suspected that in rare cases that a fibroid tumor can contain a hidden cancer. A study from South Korea in 2011 raised interest in this issue by showing how morcellating these tumors was more likely to spread cancer and worsen survival rates. The issue got even more attention in December when a 41 year old anesthesiologist at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dr. Amy Reed, had inadvertent morcellation of a malignant tumor that resulted in a worse prognosis.

The FDA’s statement says it “discourages the use of laparoscopic power morcellation for the removal of the uterus (hysterectomy) or uterine fibroids (myomectomy) in women … because it poses a risk of spreading unsuspected cancerous tissue.”
“Based on currently available data, approximately 1 in 350 women who are undergoing hysterectomy or myomectomy for fibroids have an unsuspected type of uterine cancer called uterine sarcoma. … A number of additional treatment options are available for women with symptomatic uterine fibroids, including traditional surgical hysterectomy (performed either vaginally or abdominally) and myomectomy … performed without morcellation.“

The morcellation debate has sparked a big change: several hospitals including Brigham, Temple and Massachusetts General now say they require doctors for the first time to advise women about the cancer-spreading risk. What women do with that information is up to them. But, compared with a few months ago, they have a better chance to weigh the consequences as well as the benefits of less invasive surgery.