Millions of women need care for gynecologic conditions like endometriosis, bladder leakage, and uterine fibroids.

If you’ve tried medicines, rehabilitation, or other treatments without success — or you have a life-threatening condition like ovarian cancer — your doctor may recommend gynecologic surgery.

It’s natural to feel anxious about having an operation. But gynecologic surgery can improve your quality of life or help you survive cancer. And today’s surgery procedures are safer and less invasive than ever before, with minimal downtime. This means you can get back to work, family, or your favorite activities more quickly.

About Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery

Compared to open surgery, minimally invasive surgical techniques use fewer or smaller incisions — or no incisions at all. These techniques are less invasive or damaging to your body. Other benefits of minimally invasive surgery may include:

  • Less blood loss
  • Less surgical pain
  • Reduced risk of complications, including surgical site infections
  • Shorter hospital stay
  • Faster recovery

Tower Health facilities offer the full range of minimally invasive gynecologic techniques, including:

  • Endoscopic surgery. These procedures use endoscopes — thin, hollow tubes fitted with cameras and lights — to enter the body. Depending on the part of the body being treated, your doctor may guide the endoscope through the urethra, vagina, or a small incision in the skin.
  • Laparoscopic surgery. Your doctor passes a camera and surgical instruments through small incisions in your abdomen.
  • Robotic-assisted surgery. These procedures are similar to laparoscopic surgery, but they use robotic tools and a 3D camera.
  • Vaginal access procedures. Surgery performed through a small incision inside the vagina. 

Minimally Invasive Diagnostic Procedures 

Our gynecologic surgeons use minimally invasive procedures to diagnose many medical conditions.

In the past, doctors would perform open surgery to pinpoint the source of pelvic pain or examine the reproductive organs. Today’s minimally invasive procedures let us diagnose problems with few (or zero) incisions. These include:

  • Image-guided biopsies. Procedures that let your doctor take tissue samples from your uterus, fallopian tubes, or other organs to see if you have cancer. We use imaging technology to make sure we’re collecting tissue from the right spot, and minimally invasive techniques to remove the tissue.
  • Colposcopy. Your doctor uses a special instrument to examine your vulva, vagina, or cervix.
  • Cystoscopy. An endoscopic procedure that lets your doctor examine your bladder.
  • Hysteroscopy. A type of endoscopy that lets your doctor see inside your uterus as well as debulking procedures.
  • Laparoscopy. A procedure that lets your doctor examine your abdominal cavity or reproductive organs.

Safe, Sophisticated Surgical Treatments

If you need gynecologic surgery, you’ll find yourself in capable hands. Our goal is to treat your condition safely and less invasively, so you’re back on your feet quicker. We offer a full range of surgical treatments, including:

  • Autologous sling surgery to fix uterine prolapse. Using your body’s own tissue, your surgeon creates a sling to support your sagging uterus.
  • Bladder suspension surgery to support a drooping bladder. Your surgeon moves the bladder back into its proper position and sews it into place.
  • Cystectomy, or surgery to remove cysts from the ovaries or other reproductive organs.
  • Endometrial ablation to treat excessive menstrual blood loss. It uses heat, microwave energy, or electric currents to destroy the uterine lining. This can reduce bleeding or permanently stop menstruation.
  • Endometriosis excision, or surgery to remove abnormal endometrial tissue without harming the uterus.
  • Hysterectomy, or surgery to remove all or part of the uterus, as well as debulking procedures.
  • Loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP), a treatment that helps prevent cervical cancer by removing abnormal cells from the cervix.
  • Myomectomy, or surgery to remove uterine fibroids.
  • Oophorectomy, a procedure that removes one or both ovaries.
  • Risk reducing surgeries. Surgery for hereditary cancer syndromes and for genetic alterations predisposing to gynecologic malignancies. 
  • Sacrocolpopexy to repair vaginal vault prolapse. A material called surgical mesh lifts the top of your vagina and attaches it to one of your pelvic bones.
  • Sling surgeries to treat bladder leakage. A special, implanted material holds your urethra closed when your bladder is under pressure.
  • Tubal ligation, or surgery to permanently prevent pregnancy. During this procedure, also known as having your “tubes tied,” a surgeon cuts or ties the fallopian tubes. This prevents your eggs from meeting sperm.
  • Hysteroscopic sterilization, or a minimally invasive alternative to tubal ligation. Tiny devices placed inside the fallopian tubes prevent eggs from traveling to meet sperm.