The Food and Drug Administration is warning against the use of a device for uterine surgery that risks spreading cancerous tissue.
Laparoscopic power morcellators are used in at least 50,000 surgeries every year, The New York Times reports. They work by slicing tissue into pieces that can be pulled out of the body through small incisions. Morcellators have blades that spin quickly, and in a person who had undiagnosed cancer, they can send malignant cells flying around the abdomen, advancing cancer.
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