Those that have gynecologic cancer have fresh new anticipation in a creative technology now offered 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.
Undertaken asap following surgical treatment, HIPEC supplies heated chemotherapy through a ‘hot bath’ into the abdominal cavity, where it can penetrate diseased tissue directly. Shortly after the doctor takes out all of the visible cancer as possible, a heated, a sterilized chemotherapy solution is circulated throughout the abdomen by way of a technologically advanced perfusion process to destroy the surviving 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 that usually aren’t receptive to chemotherapy, however it’s now seen as an encouraging fresh therapy for gynecologic malignancy.