Sufferers that have gynecologic cancer have all new optimism with a innovative technology currently made available 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.
Completed promptly following surgery, HIPEC delivers heated chemotherapy through a ‘hot bath’ into the abdominal cavity, where it can penetrate diseased tissue directly. Soon after the physician takes away the maximum visible cancer as practical, a heated, a sterilized chemotherapy solution is distributed within the abdominal area by way of a technically advanced perfusion procedure to eliminate 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 of which generally are not receptive to chemotherapy, yet it’s now considered as a promising brand new therapy for gynecologic malignancy.
