Penn Highlands Healthcare Physician Performs Innovative

DuBois, Pennsylvania, Oct. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — There was a time that if a woman needed a hysterectomy she could expect a hospital stay followed by an at-home recovery time of four to six weeks. Now, thanks to vaginal natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (vNOTES), a new minimally invasive procedure performed by Walter R. Cox, MD, at Penn Highlands Gynecology (formerly known as Valley Women’s Health) women can resume most normal activities within days.

In September 2022, Debbie Bachinski, of Monessen, Pennsylvania, was one of the first women to benefit from this new procedure.

 “When I saw Dr. Cox in his Monongahela office for the first time in July 2022, my routine pap test came back with significant changes over previous tests,” explained Mrs. Bachinski. “Dr. Cox performed a colposcopy and removed some cervical polyps in his office. They were biopsied and came back ‘all clear.’ To avoid any further complications, Dr. Cox recommended a hysterectomy performed with the new procedure.”

The vNOTES procedure is an advanced gynecologic technique that provides many benefits to female patients, such as shorter hospital stays, less postoperative pain, no visible scars and a faster recovery time.

Dr. Cox is one of the few surgeons in Southwestern Pennsylvania who has been specially trained on this innovative approach to hysterectomies.

“I am continually seeking opportunities and training to offer the most advanced techniques to my patients,” said Dr. Cox. “Traditional vaginal hysterectomy is the approach of choice but the surgeon cannot always remove the tubes and ovaries this way. Historically, that would mean a larger abdominal incision, and recently smaller abdominal laparoscopic incisions. vNOTES allows me to access the abdominal area ­ — the uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries — with the utmost precision and visualization without making abdominal incisions.”

The vNOTES technique uses a vaginal surgical…