Gynecologic Oncology
Clinical discussions on gynecologic malignancies, surgical approaches, and multimodal treatment strategies.
Recent Discussions
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In patients with PD-L1 negative metastatic cervical squamous cell carcinoma at primary diagnosis, do you add pembrolizumab, atezolizumab, or no immunotherapy to combination platinum/taxane/bevacizumab therapy?
You are correct that the data is not crystal clear in these patients, which means it is reasonable to consider doing either platinum/taxane/bev or platinum/taxane/bev/immunotherapy. Personally, I find that when giving all 4 agents at once, patients do experience more toxicity. So in my practice for ...
In general, how do you manage patients with early-stage endometrioid endometrial cancer who have concomitant POLE and TP53 mutations?
Based on published outcome data, double mutation is uncommon, and the outcome is driven by the better of the two mutations. So in the above situations, POLE type and not TP53 type will drive outcome and treatment decisions. That’s why in molecular-based decisions, it is important that the POLE type ...
How have you incorporated ctDNA into the clinical management of patients with gynecologic cancers?
ctDNA certainly is increasing rapidly in oncology and has been led by several other disease sites. I think right now, GYN oncology is figuring out how to incorporate this in our care to meaningfully impact our patients. I have not incorporated ctDNA in my practice routinely, but do see the role of i...
What, if any, adjuvant treatment do you offer a a patient with stage I clear cell endometrial carcinoma?
Clear cell carcinoma is a rare tumor with sparse literature regarding its adjuvant treatment. There is a recent SGO review article on this topic that is a nice reference. For stage I uterine clear cell, there are no prospective studies to study the impact of adjuvant chemotherapy and/or radiation. H...
Have treatment recommendations changed for Stage I endometrial Cancer based upon PORTEC 4 results?
PORTEC-4a will almost certainly change recommendations for adjuvant treatment in high-intermediate risk stage I patients with endometrial cancer, and in at least 2 different ways, in my opinion. By following the molecular profiling guidelines, nearly half of these patients will avoid adjuvant treatm...
When do you consider re-irradiating patients with recurrent cervical cancer?
Because I have been seeing and treating a reasonable number of these cases for 35 years, I have some strong opinions on the matter. Although external beam re-irradiation in the setting of recurrent cervical cancer is fraught with great hazards and poor outcomes, interstitial re-irradiation has a hig...
Would you recommend adjuvant chemotherapy for a patient with serous endometrial cancer initially treated with neoadjuvant radiation due to cervical involvement precluding surgical resection who is now s/p hysterectomy/BSO/LND/omentectomy with only small amount of residual disease confined to the endometrium?
Yes, assuming adequate performance status and no contraindications, I would recommend adjuvant postoperative chemotherapy for any patient requiring neoadjuvant treatment with uterine serous carcinoma that has any residual disease found at the time of hysterectomy.For the patient in this case, she in...
Despite the paucity of strong data showing benefit of chemotherapy + radiotherapy in patients with stage I-II high risk histology endometrial cancer, if you recommend treatment with both modalities, how do you determine treatment schedule?
For the purpose of this answer, I'll define high risk as serous, carcinosarcoma, undifferentiated, and dedifferentiated. Clear cell carcinoma can be considered and likely treated more by its molecular profile. As you indicate, there is little data to support the routine use of chemotherapy for FIGO ...
In patients with advanced endometrial cancer who you plan to treat with chemotherapy + immunotherapy (per GY018 or RUBY), how and when do you utilize adjuvant EBRT and/or brachytherapy?
Reading the question at face value - does advanced endometrial cancer mean stage IVB? III/IVA? If IVB, there is not routinely a role of 'adjuvant' EBRT or BT.Given the discussion of adjuvant therapy, I presume the question is asking for the small fraction of RUBY and GY-018 patients who were stage I...