Week 6: Anais

On Monday I observed several hysteroscopies. After having observed the myomectamies and hysterectomies over the past few weeks, I was now able to appreciate the simplicity of the hysteroscopy compared to when I had first seen the surgery.  I was also able to observe how shaggy the endometrium gets during menstruation compared to patients that were not menstruating, as Dr. Fenster pointed out.  Though this makes sense, it is still interesting seeing the visual characteristics.  In one of the other cases, the fibroid was in the fundus of the uterus which was apparently harder to get, thus they were not able to get all of the fibroid. I noted how there were some limitations in regards to the device camera and the liquid circulation during the operation.  Another patient had fibroids that had been previously ablated, making the material properties easier to work with.  Apparently based on such observations Dr. Fenster had previously conducted a study and proposed a device that ablated and resected tissue at the same time.  I also attended Dr.Fenster's clinic on Tuesday, which I feel always provides good context for the surgeries we see and how they actually affect people. I was particularly lucky enough to shadow her while she had post-operation conversations with two of the surgeries I had observed in the past few weeks.  I was very glad to be able to see how quick their recovery has been and it was amazing to see how much better they felt after having these fibroids removed.   Pei Wen and I also presented on some studies we had previously found last week in regards to cervical stimulation of contraction.  On Friday, we also got to shadow Dr. Fenster in the OR.  Both surgeries were hysterectomies and ran pretty smoothly.