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News Release
For Immediate Release
For more information, contact:
Lynne B. Zultanky, MSRT
Media Relations Manager (757) 889-5413
Lynn_zultanky@bshsi.com

 (Newport News, VA – April 14, 2006) –Mary Immaculate Hospital offers women an alternative to the traditional procedure for hysterectomy.  A minimally invasive hysterectomy is available through the Peninsula Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery.

“Women may need a hysterectomy for a variety of clinical reasons,” said Dr. Laura Cordes, obstetrician and gynecologist.  The most common being heavy and painful menstrual bleeding that does not stop with medications or minor surgery.  These problems are often incurred by uterine fibroids, endometriosis, and uterine prolapse.  In the past, 80 percent of hysterectomies were performed through a large abdominal incision.  Women who had this surgery were in the hospital for three to five days and took six to eight weeks to recover. 

“Now many women go home the next day and recover within a month,” explained Dr. Cordes.  “Minimally invasive hysterectomy is a proven way to speed up recovery time, and to decrease the amount of pain and scarring.” 

Today surgeons insert a telescope through the bellybutton.  Two or three quarter inch incisions are made around the abdomen. Slender instruments are used to seal off and separate the ligaments and blood vessels attached to the uterus. The uterus is removed either by passing it out the vagina, or by using an instrument called the morcellator to remove it in pieces through the bellybutton. 

Many women suffer from fibroids, common, non-cancerous tumors that grow in the muscle of the uterus.  Sometimes fibroids are treated with medicine or other treatments designed to shrink the fibroids. However, when the treatment is stopped, the fibroids will grow again. A hysterectomy may be necessary.

Endometriosis occurs when endometrial tissue begins to grow on the outside of the uterus and on nearby organs. This condition may cause painful menstrual periods, abnormal vaginal bleeding, and sometimes loss of fertility.  Women with endometriosis are often treated with hormones and medicines that lower their levels of estrogen. Surgery to remove the patches of endometrial tissue causing the symptoms may also be done but when all these procedures are ineffective a hysterectomy is the next option.

Uterine prolapse is due to weak and stretched pelvic ligaments and tissues.  It is a non-cancerous condition in which the uterus moves down into the vagina instead of staying in its normal place.  Treatment may include estrogen therapy, exercises to strengthen pelvic floor muscles, or use of a pessary, a plastic ring inserted into the vagina to help support the uterus. In more severe cases, surgery can restore the sagging organs to their normal location and repair the supporting tissues. Sometimes a hysterectomy may be done if the prolapse is causing severe problems.

Learn more about the minimally invasive hysterectomy from Dr. Cordes on
May 16, 2006, at Mary Immaculate Hospital.  Call 886-6700 to register.

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Bon Secours Hampton Roads Health System is a leading health care organization known for providing care for the whole person with grace and clinical distinction. Bon Secours brings together a network of hospitals, primary care practices, ambulatory care sites and continuing care facilities to provide quality health care services to the residents of Hampton Roads. Bon Secours, which employs more than 4,500, includes: Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center, Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center, Mary Immaculate Hospital, Bon Secours Health Center at Harbour View, Bon Secours Maryview Nursing Care Center and St. Francis Nursing Center.