Boston surgeon, physician wife campaign against procedure
A Boston surgeon and his wife, an anesthesiologist, are pushing to stop a widespread surgical technique used on thousands of women during hysterectomies, which they say caused her undetected cancer to dangerously spread.
Dr. Hooman Noorchashm, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, has started an online petition and written dozens of letters to medical journals and media organizations charging that the technique, called “morcellation,’’ is endangering women and creating a public health crisis. He has adamantly demanded that his own hospital — where his wife’s operation was performed — stop using the procedure, and called on other hospitals and doctors nationwide to do likewise. It is typically employed during laparoscopic hysterectomies, a type of minimally invasive surgery.
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Noorchashm began campaigning against the procedure after his wife, Dr. Amy Reed, a physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and their family were hit with personal tragedy. Reed, 40, underwent a hysterectomy in October at the Brigham to treat what she was told were likely benign fibroids, or masses, in her uterus. During the laparoscopic procedure, the gynecologist used a morcellator to cut her uterus and the fibroids inside into small pieces so they could be taken out through the tiny incisions used in minimally-invasive surgery.
Follow-up tests done on the tissue found that Reed had uterine leiomyosarcoma, a rare aggressive cancer. Later imaging tests showed that the cancerous tissue had been spread throughout her abdominal cavity during the surgery, giving her stage 4 cancer, her husband said. He said she also has nodules on her lungs that doctors are watching and they are unsure if those are cancer. The Brigham said it is not overseeing Reed’s follow-up care, so cannot comment on her current condition.
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About 600,000 hysterectomies are done in the United States every year, most done to treat benign fibroids using minimally invasive techniques. Morcellation is not generally recommended for use in patients who are known to have cancer. But there is no definitive diagnostic test for leiomyosarcoma.
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http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2013/12/17/boston-surgeon-and-physician-wife-push-stop-common-procedure-they-say-worsened-her-cancer/UYUCIz92mtQ0RXVBl3FF1L/story.html
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