Women's health is taking an important step forward in northeastern Ontario, through new surgical techniques being introduced at Health Sciences North.
The Sudbury hospital is now performing advanced, laparoscopic surgery for the treatment of endometriosis; a condition that affects the tissue of the uterus, and can cause severe pain and in some cases even fertility problems.
Sudbury surgeon Dr. Stephen Morris will be performing the procedures.
“Certainly, it will improve access for women who need this type of surgery,” said Dr. Morris.
“We always worry about patients having to travel, so I think it would be a great thing to push the boundaries a bit and offer more complex surgery for women with this type of health problem.”
Currently, such complex cases in Greater Sudbury are being referred to major centres such as Toronto or Ottawa.
“Generally in Canada, women’s health – especially benign health – is low on the priority list, in terms of service, and access to innovative procedures and technologies,” said Dr. Abheha Satkunaratnam, of St. Michael’s and Women’s College hospitals in Toronto.
“Because HSN is a regional referral centre which serves such a large catchment area, it’s ripe to offer these kinds of advanced procedures.”
