Monday’s case was a 54-year-old woman who had been diagnosed with complex endometrial hyperplasia with atypia, and was scheduled to undergo a robotic hysterectomy with ovarian preservation. She had a rare condition known as uterine didelphys, a type of Müllerian duct anomaly (class III) where there is a complete duplication of the uterine horns and cervix. This complicated her hysterectomy, causing Dr. Heffernan to approach the surgery slightly different than normal. When it was finally removed, I loved getting to see what the organ looked like and how it differed from traditional anatomy.
Wednesday’s case was slightly more interesting and complex. When the patient first came to Dr. Heffernan’s clinic, she had been diagnosed with endometrial cancer. Yet, she weighed over 500 pounds, mostly due to her panniculus. A panniculus is a dense layer of fatty tissue, consisting of excess subcutaneous fat within the lower abdominal region. Dr. Heffernan had her undergo surgery to remove her panniculus with a plastic surgeon 6 weeks ago, necessary in order to minimally-invasively operate on her uterus. The actual operation required a lot of time and effort, and the hysterectomy took 4 times as long as Dr. Heffernan’s usual. The presence of a large endometrial tumor was clear; thus, it was essential that her uterus was removed when it was.
Overall, the visit was incredibly worthwhile and exciting. Hopefully we will get our paper (my Original Work) published soon, and this week I made contributions to it by updating the references and ensuring our sources are cited correctly. It is extremely encouraging to go on mentor visits and feel, after every single visit, even more committed to my passion for medicine and robotic surgery.
