safe to do laproscopic sugery?

[weety911]

I have a date for laproscopic surgery (with a gyn-onc present because of risk factors) for April 20th.  My question is whether or not it is safe to do this kind of surgery with a suspicious cyst.  What about the possibiltiy of rupture or spillage into my abdomen?  My ob-gyn assured me that first they would "look around" and if anything was abnormal looking, they would abandon and go to open surgery.  Can they always tell by just "looking around"?  I swear, I'm such a skeptic, and I always think of all the things that could go wrong.  What do you all think?

[Carcinista]

This is the standard procedure for cases like yours (and mine). They start with laparoscopy just to see what's what (annoying that the US doesn't give a clear picture, nor the MRI, but there we are), then if things look ominous/cancerous/complicated they do a full abdominal incision and take out the nasty bits. Rupture or spillage are possibilities but necessary evils; not removing a cancerous tumor is baaaaad.

Only the pathologist can tell if it's really ovarian cancer after the cyst is removed, but you have a much higher likelihood of optimal surgical results (i.e. full removal, less chance of rupture or spillage) with the GYN/Oncologist present at your surgery.

Good luck and keep us posted,
Sarah

[dorigen]

I have just seen two different gyn oncs for an abnormal ultrasound and ca125 of 850.  Both said the same exact thing as you are hearing - first go in laparoscopically to "look around" and then if things are suspicious go to open surgery.  And yes, they both said they can just "tell".  In my case, they said if there is a lack of endometriosis they are likely to be much more suspicious (i am 27).  

So based on the two visits I just had i think that what you were told sounds reasonable.

[joseyanne]

Hi,  the cyst was about 3cm big,  but had been there for years, they were just watching it at my 6 monthly check ups.  My ca125 had been high (76)for years also, due to endometriosis.  My ca went up to 99 so the gynea decided to take out the cyst, still not thinking it was cancer, after the OP he said everything looked fine, it was 2 weeks later that i got the dreaded call and my life changed!!  i had 6 rounds of carbo taxol that finished end of january,  my lashes and brows are coming back and hair is sprouting!!
The tumour was endometroid/mucinous mixed grade 1.
I hope this works out for you, have you been tested for the BRCA gene?

[weety911]

joseyann, thanks for responding.  May I ask you for more info about your cyst, such as size, etc.?    How long ago did you have chemo?  I am a breast cancer patient and just finished chemo 3 months ago for that.  Chemo is no fun.

[joseyanne]

Hi,  i had my supposedly benign cyst taken out by laproscopy, it turned out to have 1cm of cancer, and unfortunatley ruptured during surgery, making me a 1C, i would have been a 1A and not have chemo!!
However I did not have a gyn-onc present, so that would be an insurance policy for you, and the recovery time from both ops is poles apart, open surgery is a big deal.
If you have other risk factors, a positive Ct scan, or if they suspect it could be cancer at all, then I would go for the big Op, but i would say that!! hind sight is a wonderful thing.
Good luck.