Expert Commentary

Why FDA hearing on morcellation safety could drive innovation


 

But it really means that we need to do a better job in pretty accurately identifying patients. And while we’re there, we did mention on the panel that maybe we can develop risk calculators or ways to stratify based on the MRI imaging, patient age, patient race, and whether or not something has a higher index of suspicion for being cancerous. What I meant to say is the two benefits outweigh the risk.

One other case was the young 20-something-year-old fertility patient with the fibroids that clearly have an impact. I mean you don’t want to do a hysterectomy and you still want to remove the fibroid in as noninvasive a way as possible and morcellation may be the best in terms of creating less adhesions. The other case was something that I had mentioned in patients who have prolapse who you’re thinking about placing mesh. Some people do subtotal hysterectomies and then attach the mesh to the cervix as opposed to the vaginal cuff to decrease the risk of cuff erosion and that’s another technique where benefits might outweigh the risk, particularly in older postmenopausal women with not particularly enlarged uteri. So, more to come.

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