‘Fibroid now being removed without surgery’

Women no longer have to undergo fibroid removal surgery following new method of treatment, Dr Felix Ogedegbe has said.

Speaking at the opening of Cedarcrest Hospital in Ikeja, the Lagos State capital, Ogedegbe said, the hospital has infrastructure and personnel to handle maternal health challenges.

He said: “Breast reconstruction is the removal of the breast that is infected by cancer and a new breast would be fashioned from different part of the body. The new breast with the blood vessel is brought to where the old breast was. The blood vessel is then joined to the arteries and veins at the location of the old breast. A new breast will be reconstructed immediately.”

Ogedegbe said with this new development, women would not have to go through the process of suffering the loss of their breast.

Ogedegbe, while speaking about uterine fibroid embolisation (UFE), said women who have fibroid can have a catheter passed through their blood vessel to get to the fibroid, adding: “Certain things are put on the fibroid to make it burn away in few weeks. Women do not need to have open operation to have fibroid removed anymore.”


The MD said most patients treated in Abuja often go home immediately after their surgery or the next day.

“Blood transfusion is often not needed, risk of infection, long stay in the hospital and all things that traditional fibroid operation comes with. It is proven to be beneficial to a lot of women because it is common among black women.

“We have doctors who are residents in Nigeria and other countries. When the need arise, the doctors would fly to the patient not the other way,” Ogedegbe said.

Nigerians, he said, do not need to travel overseas to fix their troubled knees and joints, among others because orthopaedic equipment and experts are available in the facility.

He said the 20-bed facility would help to improve health care delivery.

The hospital is equipped to treat trauma, orthopaedic, and other surgical cases, as well as general medical problems.

“Cedarcrest has been at the forefront of promoting the local availability of world class healthcare in the country. We believe that Nigerians do not need to go through the rigours and attendant risks of travelling abroad to access high quality healthcare,” Ogedegbe said.

He continued: “It has come to be known that the skill and equipment employed and the outcome achievable in other climes are also possible in Nigeria.”

Prominent people, he said, have received treatment at the hospital branch in Abuja, even though they could afford to travel abroad.

“The hospital treated Kogi State Governor Idris Wada when he had an accident in December 2012,”he said.

Ogedegbe said the hospitals have worked tirelessly to change the perception patients have about the local hospitals.

He said: “The Abuja hospital has treated nearly 20, 000 new patients and over 60, 000 returning patients over the last seven years. Nearly 3, 500 specialised surgical procedures have been carried out during this period.”