Piedmont Mountainside Hospital offers Laparoscopic Supracervical Hysterectomies

Only hospital in area to provide the procedure

Jasper, GA (February 9, 2006) - By the age of 60, one in three women will have had a hysterectomy, according to obgyn.net.  Because of the high prevalence of hysterectomies, Vincent Molinari, M.D.,  OB-GYN at Piedmont Mountainside Hospital, recently began offering an innovative procedure known as a laparoscopic supracervical hysterectomy to his patients.   He is the only physician in the Jasper area to perform the procedure. 
"I had known about the procedure for years and it just started to make sense that it would really benefit the patient," said Dr. Molinari.  "Overall, it is safer for the patient and I honestly wish I would have started it years ago."

A laparoscopic supracervical hysterectomy is the removal of the uterus through a series of small incisions, while leaving the cervix intact.  During the procedure, small surgical instruments are inserted through three tiny incisions - one along the pubic line, one on the left lateral portion of the abdomen and one along the belly button.  Two of the incisions are less than in inch in length, while the third is only a quarter of an inch.   Through the incisions, the uterus is completely detached from the cervix and drawn out of the body.

"Traditional methods leave the patient with a large incision, an extended operating time, a hospital stay of up to a week and an average recovery time of six weeks," said Dr. Molinari.  "With the laparoscopic approach, patients are generally home in 24 hours with an average recovery time of less than a week."  The procedure was developed to reduce pain and trauma to the body, minimize scarring and shorten recovery time.  In addition, it preserves the cervix, which some research suggests may help to reduce the risk of pelvic floor prolapse, urinary incontinence and other complications associated with hysterectomy procedures.  "The laparoscopic approach opens up yet another branch of gynecology at Piedmont Mountainside Hospital," said Dr. Molinari.  "Patients no longer have to travel to Canton or Atlanta to receive more technical surgical procedures like the laparoscopic supracervical hysterectomy."

Dr. Molinari attended medical school at The University of Bologna in Bologna, Italy and is a board certified OB-GYN.  He has been at Piedmont Mountainside Hospital for 15 years and resides in Talking Rock, GA.

Piedmont Mountainside Hospital provides a range of gynecological and laparoscopic procedures.  To learn more about these services, please visit www.piedmontmountainsidehospital.org or call 706-301-5300.

About Piedmont Mountainside Hospital
Piedmont Mountainside Hospital (PMH) is a 35-bed acute care hospital in Jasper, Georgia. Services include a 24-hour emergency department, intensive care unit, women's services (including OB), and general medical/surgical services. Diagnostic services include CT, nuclear medicine, MRI (mobile), ultrasound and mammography.  A complete range of outpatient services includes arthroscopic and laparoscopic surgery, physical therapy, respiratory therapy and pulmonary function, sleep studies and cardiac testing. PMH is a member of Piedmont Healthcare, which includes Piedmont Hospital - named in the Solucient 100 Top Hospitals® list in 2005 and 2002, and in the 100 Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking Study in 2005 and 2004 -  a 500-bed acute tertiary care facility in the north Atlanta community of Buckhead, offering all major medical, surgical and diagnostic services; Piedmont Fayette Hospital, a 100-bed acute care community hospital in Fayetteville, also named one of the nation's 100 Top Hospitals® for the second year in a row and one of the nation's Most Wired hospitals; the Piedmont Hospital Foundation; Piedmont Physicians Group, a 76-member primary care physician group with 19 offices throughout metro Atlanta; and the Piedmont Clinic, a 469-member physician network. Piedmont and Piedmont Fayette Hospitals were the only two Georgia hospitals on the 2005 list of 100 Top Hospitals. For more information, visit www.piedmont.org.