WHAT IS A DILATION AND CURETTAGE?
Dr Steven R. Goldstein, an obgyn in Manhattan, uses this simple, painless procedure to diagnose patients who come in with abnormal bleeding. This state-of-the-art technique, Sonohysterography, is used by Dr Goldstein to eliminate the need for diagnostic surgery in potentially 75 percent of the cases of abnormal bleeding. Armed with this knowledge, any woman can avoid an unnecessary trip to the Operating Room. Abnormal bleeding is one of the chief complaints that bring women into the gynecologist’s office. Until recently, if these women were past thirty-five, most of them were headed to the operating room. Every day in this country hundreds of women undergo Dilation and Curettage (D&C) for diagnosis, when they could have a simple, painless procedure in their doctors’ offices instead. Let’s call this patient Cindy. This forty-six-year-old woman is a good example. She was told by her doctor that she needed Dilation and Curettage (D&C) to find out the cause of her abnormal bleeding. She said “when my period came, there was no question something was wrong. I was through a pad every hour. I ruined two pairs of pants”. But did she need surgery to find out the cause? She goes on to say “my mother had two D&C’s so I thought it was no big deal. Then the nurse came in and started grilling me about insurance. All of a sudden it hit me that a D&C is surgery. It means anesthesia. A trip to the operating room. A hospital stay. Days off from work. Someone to watch my kids. Insurance nightmares. I was sorry I even mentioned the bleeding. It didn’t