“FDA toughens power morcellation warning” Robert Lowes, November 24, 2014

I’ve been warning you about a dangerous method of doing hysterectomies and surgery for fibroids called morcellation.

And finally, the FDA is warning about it, too.

Morcellation can be a killer. Because of the way it works, it can spread a lethal cancer throughout a woman’s body.

Surgeons use an electrical device to chop up the uterus, as well as any fibroids, so they can be removed though a small incision. And the danger comes if there’s a hidden cancer.

Now the FDA has known this procedure can be a potential killer for some time now. And it’s done nothing to protect women.

It wasn’t until Dr. Hooman Noorchashm, a surgeon whose wife had a deadly cancer spread this way, started sounding the alarm that women learned about the risk.

Dr. Noorchashm wanted all of these devices banned. He said that as long as any are still on “the shelf,” women are in danger.

And at the end of last month the FDA did do something, but it didn’t go that far.

The agency issued a press release saying it’s taking “immediate steps to reduce the risk” from power morcellators. Its plan is to “warn against” the use of the device “for the vast majority of women.”

It’s also adding a “boxed warning” telling of the risks and requiring surgeons to tell their patients about the danger.

But Dr. Noorchashm wasn’t impressed.

He called it “a massive regulatory failure on the FDA’s part.”

The doctor said he intends to continue his crusade against morcellation until all the devices are removed from the market and taken out of hospitals. And he also wants a congressional hearing convened to investigate why the FDA isn’t protecting patients.

Of course we all know that’s nothing new.

And even with the FDA’s new and “improved” warning about this procedure, it’s still up to us.

So please make sure that you, your wife, or any women you know do not agree to morcellation as part of a hysterectomy or fibroid surgery.

The risks far outweigh any benefits.

Sources:
“FDA toughens power morcellation warning” Robert Lowes, November 24, 2014