For early cervical cancer, open hysterectomy is safer than minimally invasive surgery

A new study found that women with cervical cancer who had a radical hysterectomy with minimally invasive surgery had a significantly higher risk of death than those who had open surgery

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IRVING MEDICAL CENTER

NEW YORK, NY (October 31, 2018)–A new study shows that women with early-stage cervical cancer who underwent minimally invasive hysterectomy had a 65 percent higher risk of death compared to those who had open surgery. The study, which belies the general assumption that minimally invasive surgery is safer than conventional “open” surgery, was published online today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“We suspected that there might be a difference in survival between the two approaches, but the extent of the difference was surprising,” says co-principal investigator Jason D. Wright, MD, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and chief of gynecologic oncology at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. “Our findings suggest that minimally invasive surgery may not be appropriate for many patients with early-stage cervical cancer.”