Lee Joins Other Women Who Have Preventative Surgery
- Chef and television personality Sandra Lee, 55, is three days post-op after undergoing a preventative hysterectomy; she joins other stars like Angelina Jolie, who’ve had preventative surgeries.
- Lee had a hysterectomy because, during a routine appointment with her gynecologist, the doctor noticed "a change in some of my cells." She also shared that she was supposed to have the "intense surgery" after her mastectomy a few years ago, "but I had repeatedly put it off and then Covid hit."
- People may choose to undergo other surgeries, such as a mastectomy, as a preventative measure against cancer, even if they have not been diagnosed with cancer.
A hysterectomy is the surgical removal of the uterus (or womb), sometimes along with the cervix. It’s both a preventative measure and surgical cancer treatment. According to The Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC), approximately 600,000 hysterectomies are performed in the United States each year.
What is a Hysterectomy?
A hysterectomy is the surgical removal of the uterus, and may include the removal of the cervix and ovaries, too. Women diagnosed with uterine, ovarian, and cervical cancer may have their cancer treated with a hysterectomy, to remove the area of the body where the cancer exists and from which it may spread or metastasize to other parts of the body. Camille Grammer opted for a hysterectomy as part of her treatment for endometrial cancer.
Thanks to modern medicine, some surgeries can be performed with robotic assistance, and a hysterectomy is one of them. In an earlier interview, Dr. Heidi Gray, a gynecologic oncologist at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, explains open surgery versus robotic surgery, and how both can be used to perform a hysterectomy. "The most common procedure that we do robotically would be a hysterectomy, removal of the tubes and ovaries, you can also do more complicated omentectomy… removing of the omentum [a fatty apron surrounding abdominal organs]," Dr. Gray says.
"The least expensive in terms of just hospital costs, things like that, is open surgery," Dr. Gray explains. "But that's because it's not using a lot of the equipment [that would be needed for robotic surgery]. But you have to factor in other things that cost the patient like recovery time, how much time you're in the hospital, risk of infection."
"Women who get open surgery tend to need more recovery time in the hospital, which costs money as well. The overall costs for both types of surgery end up being very similar," she says.
How Do You Prepare for Robotic Surgery?
Other Preventative Surgeries
A hysterectomy may be employed as a cancer treatment or, in the case of stars like Jolie and Lee, a preventative measure in the presence of abnormal or cancerous cells. Suzanne Sommers opted for a hysterectomy at age 35 due to her “severe endometriosis,” she writes on Facebook.
People may choose to undergo other surgeries, such as a mastectomy, as a preventative measure against cancer, even if they have not been diagnosed with cancer. This was the case for actress Angelina Jolie, who lost her mother to breast and ovarian cancers.
Jolie also famously penned a moving New York Times op-ed titled "My Medical Choice" about her decision to get a preventative double mastectomy. A mastectomy involves the removal of one or both breasts and it's a common treatment for breast cancer.
Jolie's outspokenness about her procedure led to an increase in testing for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic mutations. The presence of these gene mutations leads to an increased likelihood of breast and ovarian cancers.
SurvivorNet reporter Sydney Schaefer contributed to this piece.
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