What Is Morcellation?

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Morcellation is a procedure that surgeons use to take big things out of little incisions. So, for example, many surgeons perform laparoscopic hysterectomy which is removal of the uterus or laparoscopic myomectomy which is removal of a fibroid. And the way that we do this because when we're doing laparoscopic procedure of course the incisions are quite small, only about half an inch, but the fibroid or the uterus might be very large.

So, doctors decided that the best way to get this uterus out instead of making a great big incision is to do morcellation. And essentially morcellation is a device that's like a little tiny scalpel inside a long tube that divides the tissue into long strips so that it can come outside the body, and by using morcellation this enables doctors to do procedures like myomectomy and hysterectomy using techniques like laparoscopy, or robotic assisted hysterectomy or myomectomy.

The reason this is such a big advantage is of course we can take a fibroid out through a very large incision, but when we take a fibroid or a uterus out through a large incision the risks of that are much higher than with laparoscopy. Risks like bleeding, infection, blood clots after surgery or even scar tissue which might cause problems down the road.