A pair of local gynecologists used a new surgical technique, making them one of the first in Western Pennsylvania to perform the procedure.

Butler Health System's Dr. Steven Paterno and Dr. Maureen Russell performed a hysterectomy using a new minimally invasive procedure called contained tissue extraction, which was approved by the FDA in 2016.

The new procedure allows surgeons to encapsulate the uterus as they work with essentially an FDA-approved bag that helps prevent any undetected cancers from spreading through the cutting of the uterus, which is how minimally invasive hysterectomies are performed.

The surgeons performed the procedure after training through an FDA-required course.

“We did it for the first time,” Paterno said. “I feel like we're ahead of the curve.”

The doctor duo have worked together for the past 15 years and have advocated the use of minimally invasive gynecological surgery in almost any scenario, especially in regard to hysterectomies.

The less invasive procedure requires an incision between 1½ and 2 centimeters and uses specialized tools, laparoscopes and hysteroscopy, to cut the uterus into small pieces for removal.

This is opposed to the open surgery where the surgeon makes a larger incision in the abdomen and removes the organ intact.

The less invasive surgery benefits the patient in lower infection rates, less post-op pain and shorter hospital stays, according to Paterno. He said there is typically less blood loss too, which means lower transfusion rates.

But, sometimes stigmas are tough to shake, especially in modern medicine, where people have the opportunity to misguide themselves through research, according to Russell.

Paterno said once popular at its inception, the minimal invasive procedure fell from grace regionally across the country after cases arose of undetected cancers, despite rigorous screenings, disbursed and aggressively spread by the cutting of the tissue.

“One in 350 to one in 2,000, rarely you could have an unknown cancer,” he said. “I would argue that only in rare circumstances that you do abdominal surgery.”

Russell said it's important for doctor and patients to discuss and evaluate these risks to help the patient feel more comfortable. It also helps to discuss the pros and cons not only for the surgery, but in planning the patient's recovery.

Russell said the patients recover smoothly after minimally invasive surgery.

“Usually by two weeks, they're calling me asking me for a release back to work,” she said.

Russell said patients can get back into their daily routines quickly as long as it doesn't involve even moderate lifting.

“They're able to drive; they're able to go shopping,” she said. “Other people just have to help lift the bags.”

Cheryl Stebick, a stay-at-home mother of four from Butler, was the patient of the inaugural surgery.

“I'm slowly getting back to normal,” Stebick said. “I'm doing laundry, and I started cooking (last) week.”

Stebick said she trusted Russell and Paterno and their decision to use the new technique, and they took her questions into consideration.

“The biggest thing was that Dr. Russell listened to me,” she said.

Paterno said he and Russell always take the patient's wishes into consideration, but more often than not their interests usually align with minimally invasive surgery.

“We've done over 300 hysterectomies,”Paterno said. “Our minimal invasive rate is over 98 percent.

Russell said the team has a lot of experience in these surgeries, but the new evolution of the procedure shows that it has the potential to grow and become more precise. She said they want to be a part of that growth and bring minimally invasive surgery back

“If we're opening somebody we feel like we failed,” Russell said. “We ask ourselves what we could have done differently.”