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Mr Russell Luker

Consultant Gynaecologist

MBBS MRCOG

Practises at:  Bath Clinic

Mr-Russell-Luker-Consultant Gynaecologist

Personal Profile

Mr Russell Luker is a consultant Gynaecologist who practises at the Bath Clinic. He specialises in advanced minimal access (Laparoscopic) surgery, particularly for pelvic pain, heavy periods and endometriosis. He is part of the Bath gynaecological cancer team and leads the colposcopy (cervical screening assessment) service.

Mr Luker gained his medical degree at University College London and completed specialist training in the Oxford and Eastern (Cambridge) programs. He now trains doctors (in his NHS work) in advanced laparoscopic surgery and cervical screening.

Mr Luker provides rapid assessment for a wide range of gynaecological conditions. He can offer tests including cervical screening and immediate ultrasound assessment in his clinic.

Find out more by visiting Mr Luker’s website: bathgynaecologist.com

Mr Luker also practises in the NHS at Royal United Hospital, Bath additionally he holds an honorary consultant post at Southmead Hospital in Bristol to deliver advanced endometriosis surgery.

Mr Luker is married with four children (two biological and two fostered). He enjoys skiing, mountain sports, running and rowing.

Clinical Interests

Clinical Interests

  • Pelvic pain
  • Endometriosis
  • Laparoscopic surgery
  • Colposcopy
  • Heavy menstrual bleeding
  • Prolapse

Professional Memberships

Professional Memberships

  • Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the British
  • British Society of Colposcopists and Cervical Pathology

Endometriosis Q&A with Russ Luker

Mr Russ Luker is an established Consultant Gynaecologist at Bath Clinic. He specialises in laparoscopic, hysteroscopic and open pelvic surgery and is a core member of the Gynae cancer service”. Mr Luker has a particular interest in “endometriosis” and so to mark Endometriosis Awareness month, and help raise awareness of this debilitating condition, Bath Clinic Medical Secretary Lucy Edgell who herself suffers with the condition spoke to Mr Luker to get some answers to her questions, with a view to helping fellow sufferers gain a better understanding of the condition. 

What is Endometriosis?
Endometriosis is a condition where tissue similar to the lining of the womb starts to grow in other places, such as the ovaries and fallopian tubes.  Endometriosis can affect women of any age.  It is a long-term condition that can have a significant impact on your life, however there are treatments that can help.

What interested you to get into Women’s Health, specialising in Gynaecology & Obstetrics? 
I had an epiphany as a medical student!  I had thought that I would become a paediatrician until I delivered my first baby in Stoke on Trent.  From then on I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. 

What are the most common symptoms that patients present with in clinic? 
The classic symptoms that we associate with endometriosis include Dysmenorrhea (painful periods), Dyspareunia (painful sex) and Dyschezia (pain on opening the bowels).  It is too simplistic to stop there though, every patient has their own story to tell.  Discomfort may affect the whole abdomen and sometimes even the chest.  Occasionally we see endometriosis in scars following childbirth.  Most of the time the menstrual cycle makes the symptoms worse, however this isn’t always the case.  The most important thing that any Surgeon can do is to consider the whole story and concentrate on how to improve quality of life, not just to treat the endometriosis on its own.

Brain fog and fatigue - what are the connections with endometriosis? 
The effect that endometriosis has on women’s ability to function normally is seriously underrated.  Living with pain is incredibly draining especially when sleep is disrupted – we are beginning to appreciate how much good ‘sleep hygiene’ improves our ability to cope. Additionally, some of our treatments can have a big impact on ability to concentrate especially opiate painkillers which in the long term do not offer a great deal of pain relief but have a lot of side effects.  Fortunately, we work closely with the chronic pain team who offer holistic support from medication to psychotherapy, we will even recommend acupuncture if it might help!

What are the different non-invasive treatments available before proceeding with definitive surgery?
Making a positive diagnosis of endometriosis is not always necessary before offering medical treatment and if we can improve our patient’s quality of life using simple pain relief or controlling the menstrual cycle with an assumed diagnosis then we might avoid the unnecessary risks and inconvenience of having an operation.  Many hormonal treatments are based on contraceptives to avoid the cyclical effect of the menstrual cycle.  Alternatively, we can buy fantastic respite from pain by inducing a temporary menopause and use risk free HRT to avoid menopausal side effects.  The choice about how to treat the problem changes with each patient; I’m always guided by individual experiences and priorities not least when or if patients wish to become pregnant.

“Raising awareness of bad experiences even before attending a consultation”- how do you make a patient feel confident and safe when seeing you in clinic?  
It’s sad to say that women still find it difficult to get to speak with a gynaecologist about whether they might have endometriosis.  “Only today I heard from a patient who was told that women should put up with period pain – I was appalled!”  
Many patients don’t really know what to expect when they get to see me and perhaps the very best thing I can do is to just listen and try to make sense of the whole story; that might not be possible in just one visit!  It’s not just the physical symptoms or even the endometriosis itself – we need to consider how to improve overall quality of life.

Pain with sex - what is out there to help? 
Wow! How long have you got? Endometriosis can affect relationships (not just sex!) in so many ways.  Explaining about the effect that chronic illness has on our patients sex lives has revealed firstly there is plenty that we can do and secondly illness need not be a barrier to a fulfilling sex life.  We shouldn’t concentrate only on the effect of pain during intercourse but consider how this affects the relationship as a whole.

Endometriosis in the workplace, what are your thoughts on this, why is this still a stigma?  
I find it amazing that some women have fantastic supportive workplaces who accommodate when work can be challenging.  However, many women still feel the stigma of talking about something that is deeply personal.  Fortunately we have all had to reassess how we can work most efficiently in trying circumstances and Endometriosis.org’s friendly employer scheme will help make that discussion easier (https://www.endometriosis-uk.org/endometriosis-friendly-employer-scheme).

What do you hope for the future of endometriosis?
The more I look at endometriosis and the more stories that I hear, I understand how subtle and complicated endometriosis and pelvic pain is.  Sometimes I meet patients with minor endometriosis disease but who have life changing pain and I realise (again) that the endometriosis itself is not the important part of the diagnosis.  There isn’t going to be a miracle cure for a long time to come, however I do believe that improving access to good quality holistic care is going to reduce the amount of misery that our women have to face.

Heavy periods, also known as menorrhagia, can be a challenging condition for many women. It can lead to significant disruption in daily life. Fortunately, there are lots of treatment options available to match each patient’s needs.

Carefully listening to each patient's history will often reveal the likely cause for symptoms and then an ultrasound scan will help confirm the diagnosis. Fibroids are commonly the cause, although as our Ultrasound equipment has improved, we now diagnose Adenomyosis with much greater confidence.

Treatments are tailored to each person and may include hormone prescriptions which help regulate or avoid the menstrual cycle and reduce the amount of blood loss during periods. We can offer a Mirena intrauterine system and insert one with the benefit of local anaesthetic if needed.

In some cases, a minimally invasive day case procedure such as endometrial ablation may be recommended to treat heavy periods. For some surgical options such as hysterectomy or myomectomy (removing just a fibroid) may be considered. Even a large fibroid uterus can be treated with laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery with short waiting times, better cosmetic scars and rapid recovery.

Many women will experience pelvic pain and even now, sadly, most will have already visited several doctors before seeing an expert who can properly investigate and treat the symptoms.

Pelvic pain can profoundly affect a woman’s life and is often complex, as the causes can vary widely. The most important thing is to listen to the history and consider the physical, hormonal and personal triggers that can reveal why the pain is present.

An ultrasound performed during the consultation is really useful for patients to directly see the areas causing symptoms and plan further investigation or treatment. It means we can quickly make a plan to move each patient forward.

As each person’s needs are different we have a wide variety of treatment options available such as advanced pain relief, hormonal menstrual control, advanced laparoscopic surgical techniques or less medicalised treatments such as physiotherapy, acupuncture or therapeutic massage.

Mr Luker is the lead clinician for endometriosis and pelvic pain at the RUH as well as the lead gynaecologist for minimally invasive surgery. He is also part of the multidisciplinary endometriosis team at Southmead Hospital in Bristol. Not every patient with pain will have endometriosis but most women will benefit from meeting an expert with a greater depth of experience in investigating and quickly treating these symptoms.

Hysterectomy means the removal of the uterus and is most commonly offered to treat heavy periods or pelvic pain. A laparoscopic hysterectomy offers several benefits compared to traditional open surgery. This minimally invasive procedure involves making small incisions in the abdomen through which a tiny camera and specialized surgical tools are inserted.

One of the primary benefits of a laparoscopic hysterectomy is a shorter recovery time. Patients typically experience less pain and scarring and can return to their normal activities two weeks quicker than with traditional open surgery.

Additionally, the risk of infection and other post-operative complications is generally lower with a laparoscopic hysterectomy. The smaller incisions reduce the likelihood of bleeding and infection, and the overall trauma to the body is minimized.

A common misconception is that hysterectomy leads to women entering the menopause. It is the removal of the ovaries which leads to menopause and in most cases it is possible to leave these in place.

Mr Luker has performed hundreds of laparoscopic hysterectomy operations and teaches regionally and internationally on these techniques. In particular, he was one of the surgeons who developed the techniques to make the removal of particularly large or difficult fibroid hysterectomies safer.

HPV Screening

Consultant Gynaecologist Mr Russ Luker gives an insight into the importance of HPV Screening and what the results may mean.

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