For the first time in this country, women can now remove polyps and fibroids in the womb without having to go under the scalpel.
The hysteroscopic procedure could last from seconds to under five minutes.
Patients could also be discharged on the same day with no incision on the abdomen, no bleeding, no pain, and no post-trauma or effects.
Through a mechanical machine called the TruClear Hysteroscopic Tissue Removal System, the procedure was done on three patients at the San Fernando General Hospital on Thursday.
Leading the local medical team was Puerto Rican Dr Juan Salgado, a gynaecologist, who specialises in this procedure was flown into the country with his team and the equipment by Bryden Pi Ltd and the Medtronic team to lecture, teach and demonstrate the procedure to local doctors and medical students free of charge.
The machine costs about $200,000. A surgery to remove fibroids can costs between $10,000 to $15,000 if done privately.
Over the next two weeks, the medical team will be working with public health institutions to perform the surgery before the equipment and medical personnel returns to Puerto Rico.
Based on the feedback, a decision will be made on whether to purchase the machine for local use.
Vishal Bahall, gynaecologic oncologist consultant, working with South West and North West Regional Health Authority said yesterday that the procedure is centred around the hysteroscopic removal of symptomatic uterine fibroids and polyps.
He said this is the second part of a minimal access surgery course being hosted by the SWRHA with the first course centred on laparoscopic hysterectomy. Although the hysteroscopic procedure for the removal of fibroids and polyps is being done in other parts of the world, Bahall said, “This type of hysteroscopic is new to us and we are sort of using this opportunity to both train (doctors) and train our post-graduate students who will be training to become specialised in obstetrician/gynaecologist in doing these procedures.
“It is the hope that this procedure will be done continuously,” said Bahall, who added, “It helps women who have been trying to get pregnant for years and who have these polyps and cannot get it removed.”
Salgado, who has done more than 200 procedures, said he been teaching doctors in various countries how to use the TruClear equipment to remove the polyps and fibroid from the uterine cavity.
“It is very safe for the patient. It is a mechanical force and it is a blade that is rotating, cutting and suctioning at the same time. It is like Pac-Man (game). It’s a continuous flow of water and you can see very clear while you doing the procedure and the tissue go through a tube and goes directly to a basket so you don’t have floating parts of what you are taking out. The procedure is easier. The first one took us nine seconds to do it and the second one that was a big myoma (a benign tumour) that could take 40 to 45 minutes doing it the other way, it took four minutes and 24 seconds to do the procedure of taking the myoma out.”
He said none of his patients have complained about bleeding or complications after the myomas were removed.
Noting that myomas are very common in women, he said fibroids develop in pre-menopausal women and is the number one condition for hysterectomies while polyps are found in post-menopausal women.
“In Puerto Rico, I have about 10 to 12 cases a month and do about 30 surgeries in a month in the hospital. It is something that causes infertility and with these techniques we can do the surgery and the patient could get heal faster and get pregnant faster.”
Bahall said over 30 local doctors and post-graduate students participated in the first part of the minimal invasive surgery course on July 27 and 28 where they were lectured on, taught about and trained in laparoscopic hysterectomy.
“This procedure involves removing the womb, ovaries, cervix through some tiny holes in the tummy instead of a cut in the tummy.”