ATLANTA PHYSICIAN OFFERS
OUTPATIENT PROCEDURE FOR HYSTERECTOMY

With continual advances in medical science, physicians are discovering better approaches to care for a range of conditions. The advent of minimally invasive techniques such as laparoscopy has brought big benefits to patients in Atlanta. Women who require hysterectomies now have a less invasive and more acceptable option to traditionally painful and serious surgery.

An estimated 670,000 women in the United States, and about 10,000 women in Georgia, undergo hysterectomies each year. Hysterectomy is the second most common major operation performed in the United States today, second only to caesarian section. Every 10 minutes, 12 hysterectomies are performed in the U.S., and Georgia is ranked ninth in the country for surgeries performed. The surgery consists of the removal of the uterus for women with fibroid tumors, endometriosis or other reproductive health problems. The majority of the cases--about 65 percent--are performed through traditional abdominal surgery, requiring at least two to three days in the hospital and six to eight weeks of recovery and resulting in a large disfiguring abdominal scar accompanied by psychological pain related to the surgery

Now women have another option. Nathan Mordel, M.D., board certified OB/ GYN and founder of the Atlanta Minimally Invasive Gynecological Surgery Center, LLC (AMIGS) at Piedmont Hospital, is at the forefront of a new procedure that is minimally invasive and a considerably less painful alternative to the regular procedure.

Laparoscopic Supracervical Hysterectomy (LSH) is a chosen alternative procedure to the more invasive abdominal and vaginal hysterectomies for women who suffer from fibroids, endometriosis and persistent bleeding. LSH, described by Dr. Mordel as a sutureless, bloodless and less painful procedure, has the same result as the abdominal and vaginal hysterectomies, but can be performed without many of the accompanying surgical problems. Candidates for this surgery are those with a history of clean pap-smears, who are at a low risk for STD’s and who are cancer free.

LSH requires only three tiny laparoscopic abdominal incisions. There is no vaginal incision and LSH removes only the uterus leaving the cervix, its attachments, ovaries and fallopian tubes intact avoiding complications such as pelvic floor problems and surgical menopause.

LSH is an outpatient procedure and most patients go home the same day and resume all activities within a couple of weeks. Dr. Mordel uses special energy sources to seal and cut the vessels and tissue, so he uses no sutures. The uterus is removed through a special device called a morcellator. Even large uteri weighing up to two pounds may be removed using this device. Because only the uterus is removed, and everything else is spared, LSH dramatically reduces both the physical and psychological effects generally attached to traditional surgery.

According to Dr. Mordel, "Leaving patients with few visible signs of the surgery, as well as only removing the uterus, prevents a great degree of psychological anguish that accompanies a traditional hysterectomy." Dr. Mordel continues, "Often women feel a sense of ‘losing their femininity or womanhood’ when they have traditional hysterectomies. However, because there are only small visible signs of the surgery, and only the uterus, and not the cervix, is removed, women who have LSH do not feel violated or any less complete".

Dr. Mordel says that LSH is one of the most exciting advancements in gynecological surgery and has received excellent feedback from all of his patients. "Women who choose LSH have been overwhelmingly thrilled with their results. Many of them experience little, if any, post-operative pains and they are generally back to their normal activities in a matter of days."

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