Morcellators
Edgar Law Firm LLC is accepting cases where women have undergone certain surgeries that required the use of a morcellator and have fallen subject to its side effects. Please contact John F. Edgar at [email protected] or contact Edgar Law Firm LLC‘s main offices in Kansas City, Missouri, for a free initial consultation about your case.
A large number of women who have been subjected to the use of a potentially dangerous instrument called a morcellator are filing lawsuits because of its extremely harmful side effects. This device has been used on women around the country and has been the cause of many cancerous illnesses, many of which have resulted in death.
THE DEVICE
Mostly used in minimally invasive surgeries, such as hysterectomies, the laparoscopic power morcellator is a device that is used to cut-up benign uterine growths through small incisions. This tool can make it easier to remove the uterus. However, if cancer (or precancerous growth) is present during these surgeries, use of morcellators are known to cause a rapid spread of malignant tissue inside of the body.
While the idea of a morcellator in uterine surgeries would seem like a good idea, it is now known that these devices leave behind tiny pieces of tissue. If these pieces of tissue contain any cancerous cells, the use of a morcellator could spread life-threatening cancer throughout the woman’s body.
LIST OF MORCELLATORS AND MANUFACTURERS
- Blue Endo – MOREsolution Tissue Morcellator
- Ethicon Gynecare – Morecellex Tissue Morcellator
- Ethicon Gynecare – X-Tract
- Ethicon – Morcellex Sigma
- FemRx – Diva Morcellator
- Hologic – MyoSure
- Interlace Medical – Hysteroscopic Morcellator
- Johnson & Johnson
- Karl Storz – Rotocut G1, G2, Steiner, and Sawalhell Supercut Morcellator
- LiNA Medical – Xcise Cordless Laparoscopic Morcellator
- Lumenis Lin. – VersaCut Morcellator
- Nouvag – Morcellator TCM3000BL
- Olympus – Gyrus PKS PlasmaSORD
- Olympus – PlasmaSORD
- Richard Wolf – Morce-Power 2306 Electronic Morcellator
- Smith & Nephew – Trueclear Hysteroscopic Morcellator
TYPES OF CANCER
- Endometrial stromal sarcoma
- Leiomyosarcoma (LMS)
- Uterine cancer
- Uterine sarcoma
About 500,000 women undergo hysterectomy surgery every year. Of these, 40 percent are used to treat uterine fibroids, which are non-cancerous growths on the uterus. Of these growths, about 0.2 percent are actually uterine sarcoma, an aggressive type of cancer.
INCREASED RISK OF DEATH
For years, evidence of the link between morcellator use and cancer has been piling up. In 2011, researchers presented a study that showed women who had uterine tumors fared much worse when the use of a morcellator was present during their surgeries — 44 percent died after 39 months compared to a shocking 19 percent after 63 months for those women who had instead completely removed their uterus.
WARNINGS FOR USE OF DEVICE
In 2014, the Food and Drug Administration warned that the use of this morcellator device for women undergoing fibroid surgery have a one in 350 chance of harboring a dangerous uterine sarcoma and that it could not be reliably detected before undergoing surgery. The FDA warning went on to state that not only could these devices spread cancer, but also worsen them. The FDA called for a “black-box” warning label for the devices, which is the strongest caution available.
“If a laparoscopic power morcellation is performed in women with unsuspected uterine sarcoma, there is a risk that the procedure will spread the cancerous tissue within the abdomen and pelvis, significantly worsening the patient’s likelihood of long-term survival. For this reason, and because there is no reliable method for predicting whether a woman with fibroids may have a uterine sarcoma the FDA discourages the use of the laparoscopic power morcellation during hysterectomy or myomectomy for uterine fibrosis.”
WHAT TO DO
Hundreds of women and their families have been negatively affected by the morcellator thus far, and many of them have already started filing lawsuits. In fact, the situation has reached such extremes that the FBI has initiated an investigation into the devices’ development, testing, warnings, marketing and use. It is important that you act quickly.
If you or someone you know has developed or died of cancer, and underwent a procedure where a laparoscopic power morcellator was used during surgery, you should contact the attorneys at Edgar Law Firm LLC immediately for a free initial consultation. Please email John F Edgar at [email protected], or contact us by phone 24 hours a day at 888-352-0338.
