10 months ago
BALTIMORE, Maryland (WUSA) -- Cervical cancer strikes more than 10,000 women in the United States every year.
A radical hysterctomy is typically the treatment of choice for the early stages of the disease. The surgery is said to be a major life changing disease for women.
Renee Burchin is a busy sales representative, the mother of two teenagers and she recently remarried. She's always considered herself a pretty healthy person.
"In fact I am rarely sick. I always have my annual pap smear," says Burchin.
After a few months of irregular bleeding Renee went in for a pap smear. Her diagnosis caught the entire family by surprise.
Renee says,"The doctor said to me, I am so sorry to tell you this, but I got the report back and it's aedno-carcinoma, it's cancer."
Aednocarcinoma meant cervical cancer and a radical hysterctomy in which doctor remove both the uterus and its opening, called the cervix.
Renee's first thought was, "Even though I am not having any more kids, you just don't want to think about that. Are there any other choices?"
Renee did have another option. Dr. Robert Bristow of Johns Hopkins University Hospital presented Renee with what many consider the most advanced minimally invasive treatment option called laproscopic surgery with the help of a robot.
Dr. Bristow explains, "The patient has 5 little incisions on their abdomen instead of a 12 inch incision."
Through these incisions, doctors insert laproscopes, which are magnified scopes with tools attached.
The system provides doctors with an almost 3-D view of the anatomy. The robot adds extra precision and guidance which for the patient can mean less bleeding and pain.
"The surgical instruments that we use can rotate around an axis of about 270 degrees, the way a human wrist would," explains Dr. Bristow.
For patients like Renee recovery time can be drastically reduced with this approach. Patients can often go home from the hospital the next day and they're usually back to their normal routines.
Renee says," I had the surgery in May and by the end of October I went to Jamaica and I was wearing a 2 piece!"
