A federal judicial panel has coordinated more than two dozen lawsuits alleging that power morcellators—medical devices used in laparoscopic surgeries—have caused women to develop an aggressive form of cancer.

Litigation over power morcellators has been a hot topic among the plaintiffs bar for the past year, although the number of cases brought so far is relatively small. About 45 lawsuits have been filed in federal and state court on behalf of women or their family members claiming a power morcellator used to remove uterine fibroids or the uterus during a hysterectomy led to cancer, “recurrent parasitic fibroids” or other injuries. In court papers, plaintiffs lawyers have estimated there could be more than 300 cases filed over power morcellators.

In its Oct. 15 decision, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation appeared persuaded that there could be more cases, noting that 650,000 women per year have surgeries or hysterectomies due to uterine fibroids and, until last year, were likely to have them done laparoscopically with power morcellators.