OB-GYNs told robotic hysterectomy not best option
Pricey robotic surgery shouldn’t be the first or even second choice for most women who need a hysterectomy, says advice issued Thursday to doctors who help those women decide.
The preferred method: Operate through the vagina, using standard tools rather than a robot, said Dr. James Breeden, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Increasingly, women are seeing ads that say a robot could help their doctor perform a hysterectomy more easily. And Breeden said doctors are reporting patients who demand that approach or say they’ll take their business elsewhere.
But for routine hysterectomies, the vaginal method lets women leave the hospital just as quickly, without spending nearly as much money, Breeden said Thursday in a statement setting out the position of the nation’s largest group of OB-GYNs.
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