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Featured Stories: Gynecologic Surgery
Taking Control: After
sophisticated surgery for large fibroids, Joyce Neal gets back to
work quickly and becomes a mom
Joyce Neal knows a thing or two about making dreams come true.
The 44-year-old gynecologist and obstetrician from Leonardtown, Md., helps
women become happy, healthy moms. But before she started her own family,
she overcame an issue that more than 1 in 5 women face: uterine fibroids.
Four years ago, massive fibroids were causing
Joyce excruciating pain and affecting her mobility at work. “As the fibroids grew, the
nerve compression worsened,” she says. “I wanted to have
the fibroids removed through minimally invasive surgery so I could
get back to work – caring for my own patients – as quickly
as possible.”
Know your options
“The latest minimally invasive treatments allow women with fibroids – and
even women like Joyce who have large fibroids – to avoid traditional
surgery or a hysterectomy,” says Paul MacKoul, MD, gynecologic oncologist
and medical director of minimally invasive gynecologic surgery, Holy Cross
Hospital.
Dr. MacKoul performed laparoscopy-assisted
myomectomy on Joyce to remove the fibroids. In this minimally
invasive surgery, small incisions are made to give surgical instruments
and a tiny video camera access to the area being treated. The camera
shows the surgical site on a video screen, which the surgeon monitors
while performing the procedure.
“New techniques requiring advanced physician skills now allow
larger fibroids – up to 7 to 10 pounds – to be removed
laparoscopically,” Dr. MacKoul says. “Very special techniques
are used to control bleeding during the surgery, and after the fibroids
are removed, the uterine muscle is securely closed through only a two-inch
incision in the abdomen.”
As a result, patients experience less pain, shorter hospital stays,
shorter recovery times and smaller abdominal scars than with traditional
surgery.
“I went home the day after my surgery and was able to go back
to work a few days later,” Joyce says.
Preserving hope for fertility
At the time of her surgery in 2006, Joyce was
not yet focused on having a baby.
“For women who want to have children, a myomectomy is one of
the treatment options available because it can preserve fertility,” Dr.
MacKoul says. “But for women with larger fibroids, we must be
especially careful during the surgery to minimize the risk of scar
tissue in the uterus, which can hinder pregnancy in the future.”
Within a year of her surgery, Joyce became pregnant. She has had no
recurrence of fibroids and now enjoys spending time with her 2-year-old
daughter, Jada Willow.
What are uterine fibroids?
It is not clear what causes fibroids, which are growths that develop
from the muscle tissue of the uterus. More than one in five women
may have fibroids during their childbearing years.
Fibroids can range in size, from smaller than a pea to larger than
a grapefruit. Some women may have fibroids and never even know it;
others may experience moderate to severe problems.
Common symptoms caused by fibroids include:
- abnormal bleeding, possibly leading to anemia and other problems
- pain, especially with large fibroids
- bladder or bowel problems
- infertility
Unmatched expertise
Holy Cross Hospital offers the most advanced laparoscopic surgeries
available today to women with complex gynecologic conditions. Our
board-certified gynecologic oncologists are specially trained to
care for women with conditions such as endometriosis, pelvic pain,
excessive bleeding, fibroids and cancer.
In fact, physicians at Holy Cross Hospital perform more inpatient
gynecologic surgeries than any other hospital in Maryland or the District
of Columbia.
For the past 16 years, Holy Cross Hospital’s
highly advanced surgeons have been training surgeons from hospitals
all over the country in advanced gynecologic procedures through our GATE
Institute, a specialized
minimally invasive surgery training center.
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