In most cases, endometrial cancer of the uterus is relatively small so the laparoscopic surgeon can take out the uterus and then examine the inside of it. If the depth of myometrial penetration is nil or very superficial, the patient is probably cured just by the simple hysterectomy. If there s invasion of the muscle greater than one-half through the muscle and uterus, then the surgeon should sample the lymph nodes, usually doing a pelvic lymphoidectomy. But you can also do that laparoscopically. That s a very acceptable laparoscopic procedure, today many doctors are doing it.
Ovarian cancer is a little bit more difficult.
Again, it depends on where it is, if the woman has one single ovarian tumor or mass that could be taken out with no spill and examined with frozen section. If it is malignant, the cancer treatment that would be done with an open incision can be done laparoscopically. That would include taking out the other ovary, taking out the uterus, and taking out a portion of omentum which is fatty tissue coming down from the stomach and transverse intestine, and finally, sampling the lymph nodes usually in the deep pelvis and also around the aorta. I think that s too time prohibitive today. Even with a simple cervical cancer the operation of radical hysterectomy done by laparoscope takes a long time, probably twice as long as with an open incision because there are few people that are doing it.