Husband And Wife Doctors Claim Her Fibroid Removal Procedure Spread Cancer

[littlemissmartypants]

Source: NPR and WSJ

Dr. Amy Reed and her husband Dr. Hooman Noorchashm are campaigning against a standard procedure to remove fibroids in the uterus, called morcellation, in which the mass is ground up and removed in minimally-invasive surgery. They claim it spread Dr. Reed’s previously undetected cancer.

Dr. Noorchashm and Dr. Reed joined Here & Now’s Robin Young to discuss the fibroid removal technique and their campaign against it.

“You are basically taking a procedure, which puts women basically in a collision course with a stage four cancer,” said Dr. Noorchashm, noting that this is what happened in his wife’s case.

Dr. Reed and Dr. Noorchashm say they’ve brought their concerns and data about the procedure to their hospital, but the hospital has not stopped offering it.

Read more: http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2013/12/18/fibroid-removal-cancer

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Listen to the story at NPR

Or

Just read the story at the WSJ if you can. We are not lab rats. eom

Doctors Eye Cancer Risk in Uterine Procedure
Popular Technique to Remove Growths Comes Under Question

By JENNIFER LEVITZ CONNECT
Updated Dec. 18, 2013 1:21 p.m. ET
An increasingly popular method of removing common uterine growths is coming under assault by some doctors worried about the risk of spreading a potentially deadly cancer.

Brigham and Women's Hospital, a prominent Boston medical center, said Tuesday it plans to impose new limits on the procedure, called morcellation. And Massachusetts General Hospital said it expects to change what it tells women about possible risks from the...

[Warpy]

1. If the alternative is returning to the open surgery

they might find worse morbidity and mortality statistics far outweigh the risk of spreading an extremely rare cancer.

I checked the incidence of it, and while uterine leiomyosarcoma represents 30% of uterine muscle cancers, the overall incidence in a study in Alberta was fewer than two per 100,000 women; in a Scandinavian study, 0.4 cases per 100,000 women. That is extremely rare.

Uterine leiomyosarcoma is also a very aggressive cancer, so one wonders whether or not its spread might have predated Dr. Reed's surgery. It's possible.

Complicating the whole thing is the fact that there is no way to detect the cancer preoperatively.

The whole thing is going to require longer study, not a knee jerk reaction over one admittedly tragic case.

[idwiyo]

2. +1

[littlemissmartypants]

3. They stated the risk is one in 400 women. I would not want to be that one. Would you?

We are not lab rats. Can we not just stick with the tried and true? Thank you for your response. It means alot to me. lmsp

[Warpy]

4. I didn't find that large a risk online in the studies that have been done.

I would very much like to know where that number came from.

[Noorchashm]

6. 1 in 400

This number was announced by Dr. Barbieri, Harvard Professor and Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, in article by the Boston Globe and the Wall Street Journal. The analysis that led to this discovery comes from a group of 4 physicians: One from Boston University and three from the Brigham and Women's Hospital. The manuscript is currently under review at the New England Journal of Medicine, along with another demonstrating a similar result. A 1 in 400 risk of spreading cancer to a stage 4 with morcellation, is medically unacceptable and floridly unethical. Help us stop this deadly gynecological "standard of practice".

http://www.change.org/petitions/women-s-health-alert-deadly-cancers-of-the-uterus-spread-by-gynecologists-stop-morcellating-the-uterus-in-minimally-invasive-hysterectomy

[Warpy]

7. That's all types of uterine myosarcoma

The rare type that is so aggressive is under 2 in 100,000.

It will be a shame that the majority of patients will have to lose minimally invasive surgery, but that's what it will take.

[Noorchashm]

9. 1 in 400

Actually, the erroneous 2 in 100,000 frequency you refer to is what has come to light as a result of our campaign to stop morcellation. The chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital, Dr. Barbieri, actually admitted this in the Boston Globe and the Wall Street Journal last week.

The 100,000 denominator used up until last week by all gynecologists everywhere, is in all women. But if you are a woman with symptomatic fibroids requiring a hysterectomy, the risk of a Leiomyosarcoma is 1 in 400. Please read Dr. R. Barbieri's comments to the Globe and the WSJ from last week. You will soon see this number published in the New England Journal of Medicine, we hope.

For now, go to our public petition link and pass it on to as many women as you know:

http://www.change.org/petitions/women-s-health-alert-deadly-cancers-of-the-uterus-spread-by-gynecologists-stop-morcellating-the-uterus-in-minimally-invasive-hysterectomy

Hooman Noorchashm MD, PhD (For Amy J. Reed MD, PhD, our children and the others)
Cardiothoracic Surgeon
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Harvard Medical School.

[riderinthestorm]

10. Welcome to DU! I'm guessing you are Dr Noorchasthm from the article

Best wishes to you and your family as you all go through this. I heard your story on NPR and was quite moved by you and your wifes bravery.

Good luck with the treatment.

[magical thyme]

11. signed. welcome to DU, Dr. Noorchashm

and best wishes to you and your wife.

[bucolic_frolic]

5. Roto-Rooter Prostate Surgery?

Might that not do the same thing?

[Noorchashm]

8. For Amy J. Reed MD, PhD and the others

Morcellation of uterine fibroids to extract them efficiently from a woman's abdomen through small incisions causes stage 4 cancer in 1 in 400 women with symptomatic uterine fibroids; this according to the chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital and a draft manuscript submitted to the New England Journal of Medicine.

Please study our public petition at the below link to help us enforce a moratorium on this practice by the gynecological specialty. I do not understate, this is a disaster in women's health that, because of professional complacency, requires a public outcry to bring to a stop.

http://www.change.org/petitions/women-s-health-alert-deadly-cancers-of-the-uterus-spread-by-gynecologists-stop-morcellating-the-uterus-in-minimally-invasive-hysterectomy

Hooman Noorchashm MD, PhD (For Amy J. Reed MD, PhD, our children and the others)
Cardiothoracic Surgeon
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Harvard Medical School

[littlemissmartypants]

12. In the name of reproductive justice, thank you. eom