Leiomyosarcoma is considered to be rare, and treatable. It is a cancer of the soft tissue and involuntary muscle and when it is caught early it can be effectively removed.
With morcellators for gynecological procedures, the most common surgery was the removal of the uterus (for the purpose of hysterectomy or for myomectomy).
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Leiomyosarcoma (LMS) is a rare form of cancer that most commonly affects the uterus but can also affect other areas such as the bladder or gastrointestinal system. It is designated as a “soft tissue sarcoma” and originates in the smooth or involuntary muscle. LMS is considered malignant cancer and is different from leiomyoma which is benign. LMS is considered “treatable” when caught early.
LMS is rare, affecting only 6 in 1 million women but is highly aggressive and likely to metastasize to infect other areas of the body, including the lungs. Unlike other cancers that affect the uterus, LMS does not usually respond to hormonal treatments and chemotherapeutic agents or radiation treatments are sometimes inadequate.
If the leiomyosarcoma cancer is caught in the early stages, the most effective treatment is generally surgical removal. In order to fully remove the cancer, a “clear margin” of tissue surrounding the tumor must be removed. This means that the tumor along with a portion of tissue that appears healthy must be surgically excised. If any cancer cells are left in the body, a new tumor may begin to grow.
More than half of all patients treated for LMS require additional treatments within 8 to 16 months after initial diagnosis.
Laparoscopic tools are small tube-like devices such as cameras which can be inserted into a patient’s abdomen through small incisions. This allows the surgeon to perform surgery through these small incisions without requiring a large, open abdominal procedure. Power morcellators were used with other laparoscopic tools.
By the end of 2014, most of the medical community had determined that the use of power morcellation was medically questionable and posed excessive risk to patients. The FDA has stated that power morcellators should no longer be used for hysterectomy or myomectomy for patients with fibroids.
Please contact us if you have any additional questions about power morcellators or Leiomyosarcoma cancer. Our team of trained professionals are here to help assist you and your family get the treatment and legal help you deserve.
A power morcellator is a surgical device that has been used for gynecological surgical procedures. It was intended to remove tumors, and diseased tissue or organs through minimally invasive surgery. Though it was designed to reduce risk to the patients, its use may also spread cancer cells when tumors are removed.
A power morcellator is inserted into the abdominal cavity through a small incision similar to incisions used for laparoscopic surgery. The power morcellator then “shreds” the tissue to be removed which is then suctioned out of the abdomen without the need for a large abdominal incision.
Power morcellators were invented to remove a variety of tumors and other diseased tissue and organs such as renal tumors, but have most commonly been used for removal of the uterus. They have been used in a number of myomectomies and hysterectomies for reasons such as fibroid tumors and other gynecological problems including diagnosed or undiagnosed leiomyosarcoma.
Results have shown that the use of a power morcellator may spread tumors by leaving cells of the shredded tissue behind. In the case of benign tumors such as fibroids, new fibroid tumors may begin to grow in other areas creating medical difficulties. In the case of leiomyosarcoma, new sarcoma cancers which are malignant will spread, making treatment of the deadly disease much more difficult.
Unfortunately, the occurrence of leiomyosarcoma may be unidentified or hidden until a surgical removal occurs. Use of power morcellation makes the spread of leiomyosarcoma much more likely.
Cancer, including leiomyosarcoma that has been spread through power morcellation can affect any organ in the abdominal cavity including the liver, kidneys, bladder, intestines or abdominal wall. Cancer cells that have been shed due to morcellation can potentially enter the blood or lymphatic system and travel to other parts of the body such as the bones, lungs, heart or brain.
The five-year survival rate for patients with leiomyosarcoma is dramatically decreased if the cancer has spread and is only 4 to 16 percent.
However, by 2009, the medical authorities were not advocating for the use of morcellators at all. Instead, they insisted that the equally minimally invasive vaginal hysterectomy was preferable to the any other procedure. Though the ACOG (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) did not come out against the use of morcellators, it did say that in the case of benign disease, the vaginal procedure had the best outcome with fewer complications than other surgical options.
