Gynecologic Oncology
Clinical discussions on gynecologic malignancies, surgical approaches, and multimodal treatment strategies.
Recent Discussions
How would you approach a pre-viable pregnant patient in the second trimester with metastatic ovarian cancer who wants to keep the pregnancy?
I would recommend neoadjuvant chemotherapy and co-manage with maternal-fetal medicine to try to optimize the outcome for both mom and baby. Typically, we will start chemotherapy (platinum-based) after organogenesis is complete and continue q21 days until about 3-4 weeks before planned delivery. Once...
How would you evaluate the role for adjuvant radiation in a very young female (20s) with a localized vulvar SCC, HPV independent, status post hemivulvectomy?
Either re-excision or observation provided no dVin at margin and at least a 3 mm negative margin for invasive disease.
Would you offer systemic chemotherapy to a patient with at least 2023 FIGO stage IC high grade serous (p53-mut) endometrial cancer with extensive LVI for whom nodal assessment was not done?
This question was addressed in a large NCDB study in 2020 by Nasioudis et al (Nasioudis et al., PMID 32675056) who looked at USC confined to the endometrium, which found that 5-year OS was 91% for chemo alone, 91% for chemoRT, 85% for those who received radiation alone, and 82% who were observed. Ad...
Does the path length of vaginal cuff cylinder brachytherapy treatment as adjuvant therapy for endometrial cancer vary based on histology (serous, etc)?
There was some thought that treatment of high risk histologies, positive LVI, or high Grade required a longer vaginal length be treated. Including 2/3 or full length. That is largely unsupported by high-quality data and would increase distal vagina toxicity in this population. Our clinic treats uppe...
If a patient meets criteria for extrafascial hysterectomy for early-stage cervical cancer, how do you determine your surgical approach (abdominal vs laparoscopic)?
For FIGO 1A1-1A2 (i.e., microinvasion which means no visible lesion) - I would perform a vaginal hysterectomy with bilateral salpingectomy (IA1) or robotic hysterectomy with bilateral salpingectomy-nodes (IA2); for FIGO 1B1 with no visible lesion (eg., post-conization), I would perform a robotic cys...
How would you approach a patient who is unable to undergo the recommended ophthalmologic examinations during treatment with mirvetuximab soravtansine?
Until more data are available regarding the ocular safety and reviewed by the agency, I follow the recommendations. I feel there is a decent chance real-world experience may change this but officially I follow the recommendations as stated. Having said this, the testing recommended (“Conduct an opht...
Would you ever consider pelvic exenteration followed by SBRT for a patient with recurrent cervical cancer (s/p chemoRT) who has disease only in the central pelvis and in a single hilar lymph node?
I think this is a tough question. The short of it would be that I would be very cautious with exent candidacy with extra-pelvic disease. The surgical morbidity and limited ability to get additional therapy are a reality. Scenarios where I might consider would be a long duration of time off therapy. ...
How do you manage a cervical cancer patient on anti-coagulation for pulmonary embolism requiring interstitial brachytherapy boost?
Have done with IVC filter and switch to heparin days prior to the procedure so that can hold anti coagulant for the procedure and epidural placement for analgesia.
How would you palliate a large, symptomatic vaginal melanoma recurrence with limited small pelvic lymph node metastases?
Palliation. Treat problems that are symptomatic. No expensive systemic work up. Pall RT to the pelvis if it’s symptomatic. 30 Gy/10 fractions, 25 Gy/5 fractions, or 20 Gy/2 fractions with a 1 week inter-fraction interval. Apologize for the lengthy response.
With vaginal cuff brachytherapy, do you treat to the surface or a depth and why?
We prescribe to the surface of the vagina but also attend to the dose at depth. For patients receiving only vaginal cuff irradiation we use a prescription of 6 Gy VSD x 5 qod. Although this is a modest dose, it appears to be very effective in preventing vaginal recurrences, even in high-risk cases. ...