Power Morcellation at the Center of Yet Another Cancer Lawsuit

Philadelphia, PAYet another Laparoscopic Power Morcellation lawsuit has been filed in Philadelphia, this time against the manufacturer of the PKS PlasmaSORD Bipolar Morcellator. The co-plaintiff in the case alleges that use of the device inadvertently spread cancer cells throughout her abdomen.

Power morcellation is yet another adjunct of the increasing prevalence of endoscopy or minimally invasive surgery that dispenses with the need for large incisions (together with longer recovery times) in favor of scopes that contain tiny cameras, and through which surgeons can deploy instruments to perform surgical procedures through much smaller incisions.

This type of abdominal procedure is known as laparoscopy, and differs from arthroscopy only in that the latter involves joints such as knees and other skeletal joints. But the same idea holds true - rather than a large incision that exposes the entire joint (arthroscopy) or a large section of abdomen (laparoscopy), a small incision is made through which a scope with camera and instruments is inserted for minimally invasive surgery.

Think of it as an “inside job.”

Power morcellators fit into this category. The latter is a device capable of breaking up tissue such as fibroids through a scope. The problem for many patients is an inherent risk that laparoscopic procedures using Laparoscopic Power Morcellation could spread undetected cancerous cells throughout the uterus during a procedure to remove fibroids, for example, or during a laparoscopic power morcellation hysterectomy.

Some hospitals undertook steps to contain tissue during morcellation, preventing the spread of tissue and potentially cancerous cells. But most stopped using the morcellators altogether. Last November the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning that laparoscopic power morcellators, gynecological tools used to perform hysterectomy or uterine fibroid removal, should not be used in surgery that involves cancer or fibroids (laparoscopic power morcellation myomectomy).

The concern centered on Laparoscopy using a power morcellator that carried the possibility of spreading cancerous cells from unsuspected cancer in uterine tissue, negatively impacting the health and long-term survival of the patient.

That’s the basis for the Laparoscopic Power Morcellation lawsuit brought by plaintiffs Marlene and Joel Waltman. The lawsuit claims that use of the PKS PlasmaSORD Bipolar Morcellator during a gynecological procedure to remove what were thought to be benign tumors, succeeded in seeding and spreading cancer cells through Waltman’s abdomen.

“The PKS PlasmaSORD Bipolar Morcellator disseminated and seeded cancer throughout plaintiff’s abdominal cavity, thereby causing and accelerating the metastases and spread of her cancer, worsening the long-term prognosis and the natural course of her cancer,” the complaint said. “The spread of the life-threatening cancer suffered by the plaintiff was a direct result of the use of the PKS PlasmaSORD Bipolar Morcellator during her 2011 surgical procedure.”

The morcellator in this case is manufactured by Gyrus Acmi LP, a subsidiary of Olympus Corp.

The plaintiffs reference studies in medical journals as early as the 1990s that reported on the risk of spreading undetected cancer associated with use of the device. Olympus “knew or should have known that their laparoscopic power morcellators could cause malignant tissue fragments to be disseminated and implanted in the body,” the complaint said.

In this way, a patient need not be already diagnosed with cancer, such as Ovarian cancer for example, for laparoscopic morcellation to be problematic. To that end, it is not a cancer surgery going in. However, or so it is alleged, undetected cancer cells stirred up by power morcellation can succeed in fostering a later diagnosis of cancer via a laparoscopic power morcellation myomectomy (fibroid removal).

Some power morcellators have been removed from the market altogether as more are viewing Laparoscopic Power Morcellation as a dangerous medical procedure.

In the meantime, the lawsuits keep coming. The Waltmans hold that even though Waltman’s procedure was in 2011, the statute of limitations should be tolled given that the plaintiffs only recently learned of the potential association between laparoscopic power morcellation myomectomy and her cancer.

The case is Marlene Kay Waltman et al. v. Gyrus Acmi LP et al., Case No. 150900680, in the Court of Common Pleas of the State of Pennsylvania, County of Philadelphia.