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Dr. Jay Greenberg is a OB-GYN at Mid-Atlantic Women's Health Center in Hagerstown. (By Ric Dugan/Staff Photographer / March 13, 2013) |
For more than six months, Nancy McClain thought her abdominal cramps and low back pain were the result of a bladder infection.
But when the discomfort wouldn't disappear, she headed to her gynecologist, who performed a pelvic ultrasound, revealing a large benign uterine tumor.
McClain, who was 50 at the time, began considering a hysterectomy.
The Hagerstown woman eventually elected to have the surgery, but her decision didn't come easily, she said.
"In fact, I was a bit apprehensive. I remembered my grandmother having a hysterectomy —the big, ugly scar, the months of recuperation — and I wasn't sure I wanted the same experience," McClain said.
But she quickly learned this wasn't her grandmother's hysterectomy.
Instead of a long stay in the hospital, McClain underwent same-day surgery.
Instead of being off work for several months, she was back on the job within a few weeks.
And that scar?
Thanks to medical advances, her incision was so small, it's hardly noticeable, she said.
According to the Centers for Diseace Control, each year, more than 600,000 hysterectomies are performed in the United States, making it the second most common surgery among women, topped only by cesarean section childbirth.
Reasons for having a hysterectomy range from uterine fibroids and endometriosis to cervical or uterine cancer and prolapse, where the uterus, cervix or bladder might be falling through lack of support.
In many cases, a number of conservative alternatives is tried before progressing to the more invasive procedure, said Dr. Jay Greenberg, an OB-GYN with the Mid-Atlantic Women's Health Center in Hagerstown. This might include a dilations and curettage, often referred to as a D&C, endometrial ablation or some type of hormone therapy.
"It is usually after these patients fail at these treatments that they then opt to proceed with surgery," he said.
"Hysterectomy is not an automatic procedure," noted Dr. Christine Molloy with Summit Women's Group in Chambersburg, Pa., an affiliate of Summit Health. "Usually, it is considered the last option after other, less invasive options are offered."
According to Greenberg, hysterectomies can be confusing to some patients.
"Many of them think that we mean removing all female organs," he said. "But the word 'hyster' just refers to the uterus, so hysterectomy means just removing the uterus. One has to specify if they are taking out the tubes and the ovaries, which would be termed a 'salpingo-oophorectomy.'"
In the past, Greenberg said, hysterectomies required open abdominal surgery — a six-inch incision through layers of skin and muscle resulting in a six-week post-operative recovery.
Now, women have alternatives to this procedure.
But when the discomfort wouldn't disappear, she headed to her gynecologist, who performed a pelvic ultrasound, revealing a large benign uterine tumor.
McClain, who was 50 at the time, began considering a hysterectomy.
The Hagerstown woman eventually elected to have the surgery, but her decision didn't come easily, she said.
"In fact, I was a bit apprehensive. I remembered my grandmother having a hysterectomy —the big, ugly scar, the months of recuperation — and I wasn't sure I wanted the same experience," McClain said.
But she quickly learned this wasn't her grandmother's hysterectomy.
Instead of a long stay in the hospital, McClain underwent same-day surgery.
Instead of being off work for several months, she was back on the job within a few weeks.
And that scar?
Thanks to medical advances, her incision was so small, it's hardly noticeable, she said.
According to the Centers for Diseace Control, each year, more than 600,000 hysterectomies are performed in the United States, making it the second most common surgery among women, topped only by cesarean section childbirth.
Reasons for having a hysterectomy range from uterine fibroids and endometriosis to cervical or uterine cancer and prolapse, where the uterus, cervix or bladder might be falling through lack of support.
In many cases, a number of conservative alternatives is tried before progressing to the more invasive procedure, said Dr. Jay Greenberg, an OB-GYN with the Mid-Atlantic Women's Health Center in Hagerstown. This might include a dilations and curettage, often referred to as a D&C, endometrial ablation or some type of hormone therapy.
"It is usually after these patients fail at these treatments that they then opt to proceed with surgery," he said.
"Hysterectomy is not an automatic procedure," noted Dr. Christine Molloy with Summit Women's Group in Chambersburg, Pa., an affiliate of Summit Health. "Usually, it is considered the last option after other, less invasive options are offered."
According to Greenberg, hysterectomies can be confusing to some patients.
"Many of them think that we mean removing all female organs," he said. "But the word 'hyster' just refers to the uterus, so hysterectomy means just removing the uterus. One has to specify if they are taking out the tubes and the ovaries, which would be termed a 'salpingo-oophorectomy.'"
In the past, Greenberg said, hysterectomies required open abdominal surgery — a six-inch incision through layers of skin and muscle resulting in a six-week post-operative recovery.
Now, women have alternatives to this procedure.
