Orthopedic surgeon Jeanine Anderson, MD, underwent a minimally invasive hysterectomy after being diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2017. Sixteen months later, her cancer returned, according to NBC News.
Two recently published studies in the New England Journal of Medicine show minimally invasive surgery may increase risk for women with cervical cancer.
Here are eight insights:
1. Dr. Andersson is an orthopedic surgeon at Little Rock-based Arkansas Specialty Orthopaedics. She specializes in hand and upper extremity surgery, with a focus in microsurgery and minimally invasive techniques.
2. After her initial cancer diagnosis, Dr. Andersson traveled to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for a minimally invasive hysterectomy.
3. Dr. Andersson's two options were the minimally invasive surgery or a traditional open laparotomy. She chose the minimally invasive option because, "Recovery was two, maybe three weeks. I would be back to work, and to me it was a no-brainer," Dr. Andersson told NBC News
4. Sixteen months after her surgery, Dr. Andersson's cancer came back. She is now being treated with radiation and chemotherapy because her tumor was too large to remove surgically.
5. The two studies were conducted by surgeons and researchers at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and Boston-based Harvard Medical School, among others.
6. Results of the studies showed an increased number of in deaths among women who underwent minimally invasive surgery as opposed to an open laparotomy.
7. Of almost 2,500 participants in the first study, half underwent minimally invasive surgery. "Over a median follow-up of 45 months, the four-year mortality was 9.1 percent among women who underwent minimally invasive surgery and 5.3 percent among those who underwent open surgery," researchers wrote.
8. Of the 600 participants in the second study, results showed after four and a half years, 86 percent who underwent minimally invasive surgery were still disease free compared to 95 percent who had invasive surgery.