Women’s History Month
- Amy Reed, physician and patient who “moved mountains” to end widespread use of power morcellation
By The Cancer Letter | March 3, 2021
Reed, an anesthesiologist, became the face of a national campaign against power morcellation after she underwent the procedure at Brigham & Women’s Hospital. Her advocacy saved the lives of many women.
I always wanted to be a doctor when I was little. I wanted to go into medicine and be a doctor and fix things, and cure the world
Amy Reed
Weeks after her “minimally invasive” surgery in 2013, Reed learned that the spinning blades of the morcellator contributed to the spread of an undiagnosed aggressive uterine cancer, leiomyosarcoma, throughout her abdominal cavity.
She wasn’t the first. Erika Kaitz, another woman in Boston, had died from disseminated cancer at the same hospital in 2013. Reed and her husband, Hooman Noorchashm, were the first to publicly make the connection. Hundreds of women have since come forward claiming to have been similarly harmed.
Reed died May 24, 2017, less than four years after her surgery. She was 44. Reed and Noorchashm’s relentless campaign sparked multiple investigations, and changed the standard of care in minimally invasive gynecology.
Reed’s legacy continues to influence the regulation of surgical medical devices and reshape the way gynecologists assess cancer risk and prevalence. The Cancer Letter’s award-winning coverage of her war against morcellation tracks each development—changes in FDA’s guidances, device recalls, litigation, and Congressional hearings (The Cancer Letter, How Medical Devices Do Harm, 2014-2017).
More studies over the years show how cancers are frequently missed prior to routine minimally invasive procedures—signaling a need for more robust preoperative work-up to identify at-risk women, as well as more rigorous evaluation of innovative surgical procedures, including robotic surgery.
The Cancer Letter’s investigation continues (When Surgical Innovation Kills, 2018-present).
- Video: Carol Fabian: A Persistent Pioneer in Breast Cancer Research
By The University of Kansas Cancer Center | March 2, 2021
Recent contributions
- Danny Welch: The “M” Word
By The University of Kansas Cancer Center | March 4, 2021 - Video: The Buffalo History Museum: Cancer Crossings Panel
By Cancer History Project | March 4, 2021 - Primary Source: The National Cancer Act of 1971 with changes made by the National Cancer Act Amendments of 1974. Appendix A.
By NCI | March 1, 2021
This column in The Cancer Letter features the latest posts to the Cancer History Project by our growing list of contributors.
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