Thinking About Clear-Cut Methods Of Promising Hope for Gynecologic Cancer

Those with gynecologic cancer have fresh optimism in a original technology now introduced at the Seidman Cancer Center at University Hospitals Case Medical Center. A team of cancer specialists, led by Robert DeBernardo, MD, is among the first in the nation to launch a dedicated program using Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC) to treat ovarian, endometrial and select other cancers.

Undertaken as soon as possible following surgical treatment, HIPEC delivers heated chemotherapy through a ‘hot bath’ into the abdominal cavity, where it can penetrate diseased tissue directly. After the doctor takes away all of the visible cancer as possible, a heated, a sterilized chemotherapy solution is distributed within the mid-section by way of a technically advanced perfusion technique to ruin the leftover cancer cells.

“This is a new and potentially revolutionary way of treating women with gynecologic cancers, which tend to be quite responsive to chemotherapy,” says Dr. DeBernardo, gynecologic oncologist at UH Case Medical Center and Assistant Professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. “Our preliminary data and experience has been overwhelmingly positive and the therapy has been well-tolerated and effective. HIPEC promises to extend lives in a meaningful way.”

HIPEC has been used for years for public health care in patients with colon, pseudomyxomas, malignant mesothelioma and appendiceal cancer, cancers that typically are usually not reactive to chemotherapy, but it is currently seen as a promising fresh treatment for gynecologic malignancy.