Going for robotic laparoscopic surgery for fibroids. Advised to stop birth control pills. Should it be stopped before the surgery?
Patient: I will be going in for robotic laproscopic surgery in Sept 2012. I went for 3 different opinions. 1 does open laprarotmy & told me to stop taking my bc pills about a week before surgery as did the 2nd opinion i had with a different dr. The 3rd dr witn whom i have selected to actually do the robotic on both fibroids 9.5 cm & 2.5 cm due to his experience of over 1000 patients has old me it wasnt necessary to stop. A little worried now whether i should just stop on my own- i only take them so I can forcast my cycle since I bleed so much I cant leave the house. Please help! Doctor: Hello and welcome, The birth control pills increase the risk of blood clots. Immobilization and surgery is another reason for increased risk of clots and the third is age. So if you use pills and are immobilized and operated plus the post operative recovery period where a person is relatively less moving about, the risk of blood clots increases a lot. These clots go to the lungs and lodge there so there is trouble in breathing. Having said that every surgery will not lead to clots, but it does increase the risk. So we stop the pills as a safe guard to decrease this risk that can be life threatening. If your surgeon is confident, then he must be mobilizing the patients real fast so that the risk decreases. So just discuss this with your surgeon and then decide with his consent as he is the one who will operate and responsible for post operative care. Hope this satisfies your query. All my best wishes are with you for an early recovery.Thanks for using HCM.     Feel free to ask any more questions that you may have. Dr Madhuri BagdeConsultant Obstetrician and Gynecologist