What's the deal on the D & C gynecological procedure? (pregnant, bleeding)
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A few decades ago, women routinely and openly went to their Gyn for a "Dilation and Curretage", referred to as a D&C. That was before abortions were legal, and the openness of talk about the procedure suggests that a felonious and criminal abortion was not the objective. But when abortions became legalized, D&C was one of the methods of choice.
But since about the 1970s, I never hear about this procedure anymore. So my question is, why did women who were not pregnant get a therapeutic D&C, and why don't they any more? Or do they just not talk about it?
A few decades ago, women routinely and openly went to their Gyn for a "Dilation and Curretage", referred to as a D&C. That was before abortions were legal, and the openness of talk about the procedure suggests that a felonious and criminal abortion was not the objective. But when abortions became legalized, D&C was one of the methods of choice.
But since about the 1970s, I never hear about this procedure anymore. So my question is, why did women who were not pregnant get a therapeutic D&C, and why don't they any more? Or do they just not talk about it?
D&C (dilatation & curretage) is probably most commonly used to remove the remnants of a miscarriage that did not complete itself. It can also be used to diagnose bleeding abnormalities, often combined with hysteroscopy (in which a telescope is inserted into the uterus to visualize the uterine lining.)
Many times a simple office biopsy can obtain enough tissue for a diagnosis and a full D&C is not needed.
I just had one. In my case, I had abnormal bleeding heavy enough that I had to have two transfusions. I had a biopsy done twice in the doctor's office. The first biopsy showed precancerous changes. The second biopsy was clear. My gyn wanted to make sure the second biopsy hadn't missed precancerous cells, so I was scheduled for a hysteroscopy and D&C. While she was in there, she did some resectioning also which is supposed to help with the bleeding issue. She said she removed a lot of really abnormal looking tissue, but everything she removed was tested for cancer and they didn't find any. So that's why I had to have a D&C.
My MIL asked about the D&C too, she wondered if I was pregnant and there was something wrong with the baby. But my tubes have been tied for nearly a decade and there was definitely no baby...I had a urine test and a blood test to rule out pregnancy before the procedure was done. It was just needed to figure out if I had cancer, and to try to figure out the cause of my bleeding problems.
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