Affected individuals who have gynecologic cancer have brand-new expectation from a innovative technology now 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.
Implemented asap following surgical treatment, HIPEC delivers heated chemotherapy through a ‘hot bath’ into the abdominal cavity, where it can penetrate diseased tissue directly. Subsequently after the doctor takes away all the visible cancer as practical, a heated, a sterilized chemotherapy solution is circulated across the abdomen through a technologically sophisticated perfusion procedure to ruin the residual 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, types of cancer of which typically are usually not reactive to chemotherapy, however it is currently thought of as a promising brand new treatment method for gynecologic malignancy.