This past weekend, The Center for Innovative GYN Care celebrated Endometriosis Awareness Month with amazing women and men participating in the annual WorldWide EndoMarch in DC.
The 2016 DC Endomarch brought together groups from across the Washington, DC metro area, and from around the country, including Texas, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. The number of women who had similar stories about how long it took to get diagnosed, suffered through numerous procedures like ablation or hysterectomy that did nothing to treat the endometriosis lesions or made their conditions worse, or long-term medical treatments that created complications or did nothing underscored the need for better education, better training in medical school and the need for research funding.
These are the same stories that our specialists hear from patients all the time. Delaying a diagnosis and treatment can cause extensive damage. Women experience intense pain, heavy bleeding and in many cases, infertility.
Endometriosis excision is the gold standard procedure. This procedure completely removes the endometriosis lesions, and it is most effective if performed in an early stage of the disease. There are a limited number of endometriosis experts in the United States, and too many women have to wait years for a proper diagnosis, because their regular doctors do not recognize the symptoms. Endometriosis can only be officially diagnosed with a laparoscopic procedure, and excision should be performed at the same time it is diagnosed. That is why having a minimally invasive GYN specialist perform the diagnostic procedure is so important.
Resection (or excision) of endometriosis preserves the uterus, tubes & ovaries for women who wish to maintain fertility, or who have milder disease. CIGC specialists can help with medical management to extend the length of pain control as this is a conservative surgery that can improve pain. While there is no cure for endometriosis, hysterectomy has been shown to alleviate many symptoms. Using DualPortGYN, a technique developed by the minimally invasive surgeons at CIGC makes it possible to perform these very complex procedures with two tiny incisions.
“Many OB/GYNs are not trained in minimally invasive procedures, and even fewer have experience or training to perform a bowel repair, requiring another surgeon to perform additional surgery,” said Dr. Paul MacKoul, MD. “Our minimally invasive GYN specialists are able to perform additional surgeries to repair bowel, bladder or ureter that are often affected by endometriosis, or pelvic adhesions from trauma or previous surgeries. This is an important part of what we do.”
The Center for Innovative GYN Care is dedicated to providing information and materials for women to help navigate the complicated healthcare system. Our minimally invasive surgical specialists have seen firsthand the pain and anxiety women with endometriosis face before getting a proper diagnosis, evaluation and treatment. We have also seen what delaying a diagnosis and surgery performed poorly can do to a woman. The longer a woman suffers with endometriosis, the likelihood of extensive damage to her reproductive organs increases.
Until there is a cure, it is essential that advocacy and research efforts are increased. CIGC works closely with endometriosis awareness organizations to ensure that our patients have access to the support they need, and have the most up-to-date information about the most effectiveminimally invasive endometriosis removal to manage pain, bleeding and infertility.
GYN surgical specialists can often see women sooner because they are focused entirely on surgery. Each patient gets detailed, in depth attention from Dr. Natalya Danilyants and Dr. Paul MacKoul. This personalized care helps patients understand their condition and the recommended treatment so that they can have confidence from the very start. Our surgeons have performed over 20,000 GYN procedures and are constantly finding better ways to improve outcomes for patients.
Book a consultation today with Paul MacKoul MD or Natalya Danilyants MD.
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Even if you are not from the DC area, many patients travel to The Center for Innovative GYN Care for our groundbreaking procedures. We treat women from around the world who suffer from complex GYN conditions.
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