The FDA today recommended that laparoscopic power morcellators, which have been implicated in the spread of cancer, be limited to use with certain tissue containment systems and only in premenopausal women under 50 years of age.

Power morcellators were used for 20 years to laparoscopically remove benign tumors of the uterus, known as fibroids, by mincing them. In some cases, the procedure ended up seeding undetected malignant cells throughout the abdomen, drastically accelerating the cancer’s advance. The agency began requiring a black box warning on the devices in 2014.

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