Gynecologic Oncology
Clinical discussions on gynecologic malignancies, surgical approaches, and multimodal treatment strategies.
Recent Discussions
How do you plan for excess nonconforming vaginal tissue with a HDR cylinder?
CT based plan. You do end up seeing paravaginal tissue not covered by single channel cylinder. We have not chased that in adjuvant setting with outcome data showing low recurrence rate. Similar thoughts about small air gaps Richman et al., PMID 33384254.
What is the best method for ensuring that vaginal cuff cylinder is in proper position at each fraction?
The best method depends on local context and what tech is available. For imaging, one can: re-CT each treatment, use fluoro (we have a C-arm), use the kV or MV imager on a Linac with an orthogonal pair or a CBCT. There are other methods also. Some practices don’t image verify (makes me nervous). For...
What is your adjuvant therapy for node positive, low grade endometrioid endometrial adenocarcinoma?
Chemotherapy (typically carboplatin/paclitaxel x 6 cycles), restage, and if no progression, whole-pelvic RT. Consider brachytherapy boost if cervical stromal or vaginal involvement and/or presence of other risk factors for vaginal cuff recurrence (e.g. LVSI, deep myometrial invasion, grade 3 [not in...
What is your approach to an incidental diagnosis of low risk endometrial cancer in a patient who underwent minimally invasive hysterectomy with uterine morcellation with gross intra-operative tumor spillage?
Little guidance is available in the literature on the optimal management of a patient with a low grade endometrial cancer who had a minimally invasive procedure with uterine morcellation and gross tumor spillage. Fortunately, this situation is not common. Wright et al. estimated the risk of occult m...
Do you follow GOG, ASTRO, or PORTEC recommendations for adjuvant therapy in stage I endometrial cancer patients?
I believe the current ASTRO guidelines encompass the older GOG and PORTEC guidelines for the most part and we follow these guidelines though we review all for the sake of completeness.For the first patient, barring other risk factors, I would offer adjuvant vaginal cuff brachytherapy; for the second...
How would you manage a bulky, locally advanced endometrial cancer with extensive parametrial involvement in a patient inoperable due to medical comorbidities?
PET CT staging. If suitable for definitive treatment, EBRT (concurrent chemo if able to get it) plus HDR brachytherapy.
If a patient with MSI-H endometrial cancer slowly progresses on single-agent pembrolizumab, would you add lenvatinib?
This is an important question without a defined answer at this time. In a prior phase 2 trial examining cabozantinib + nivolumab in endometrial cancer, a small exploratory cohort of patients treated with prior IO was included. Of 20 patients who received prior IO, six patients responded and eight ha...
When would you offer extra-fascial hysterectomy to patients with low-risk early-stage cervical cancer in light of data from the ConCerv trial?
Stage 1A1 and 2
Is there a role for chemotherapy and/or vaginal cuff boost to EBRT in FIGO IB1 cervical adenocarcinoma, status post total hysterectomy?
Recently presented SHAPE trial shows non-inferiority of simple hysterectomy to radical for IB1 disease or lower disease. So for the above patient, that may not change anything but certainly would need nodal assessment which could be from surgery or RT after PETCT.
Would you consider offering immunotherapy +/- olaparib to a patient with early-stage endometrial carcinoma for whom you are recommending adjuvant chemotherapy based on improved outcomes seen in RUBY/DUO-E/NRG-GY018?
I hesitate to offer the chemo/IO combination to patients with stage I disease as this is likely an overtreatment. The majority of the patients who require chemotherapy for stage I disease are those with serous and carcinosarcoma histology. Most of those patients are not even MMRd. It is unclear what...