A South Carolina man and woman have filed a power morcellator lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon unit. The couple claims that Johnson & Johnson’s device caused the woman to develop uterine fibroid cancer when it spread unsuspected cancerous tissue throughout her abdomen during a myomectomy procedure.
Power morcellators are a type of medical instrument used in minimally invasive, or laparoscopic, surgery to cut up large masses of tissue into ...
continue reading...The FDA released a statement discouraging the use of power morcellators in gynecological procedures because of significant cancer risks. A story by CBS Pittsburgh reports of a new study by Columbia University that further confirmed that power morcellators can spread undiagnosed stage 1 cancer.
The Columbia University study concluded that an estimated 1 in 368 women have uterine cancer at the time they undergo a gynecologic procedure. As a result, doctors may be ...
continue reading...A panel of Food and Drug Administration experts says that it is unlikely that power morcellation can be used to remove fibroids from women without the risk of spreading undetected cancers to other parts of the body. The FDA takes into consideration the opinions of its health advisors on these panels when making regulatory decisions about medical devices.
Power morcellators are used in the removal of fibroids and in some hysterectomies. Fibroids can cause ...
continue reading...Power morcellation was, until recently, considered a reasonable option for women seeking treatment for uterine fibroids. Amidst FDA warnings and various recalls, this option has been largely advised against. An article in the Wall Street Journal discusses the alternatives to power morcellation that are available to women that want to avoid this risky procedure.
Laparoscopic power morcellators are currently being investigated regarding their potential risk in spreading cancerous tumors in women. ...
continue reading...The FDA’s Obstetrics and Gynecology Devices Panel has scheduled a hearing in July to discuss whether to ban power morcellators. According to the FDA, the agency has only banned a medical device once before.
Morcellation is sometimes used in minimally invasive laparoscopic hysterectomy operations to remove the uterus and/or fibroids that can cause pain, bleeding and ...
continue reading...The FDA previously advised doctors to stop all use of power morcellators while the devices’ propensity to spread cancer was reviewed. Now J&J is pursuing a global, voluntary return of its power morcellator devices. An article in Reuters reports that this move comes as a result of concerns that the surgical device potentially spreads cancerous uterine growths in women.
Uterine growths, called fibroids, ...
continue reading...
