Affected individuals who have gynecologic cancer have fresh new hope with a creative 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.
Performed swiftly following surgical procedure, HIPEC supplies heated chemotherapy through a ‘hot bath’ into the abdominal cavity, where it can penetrate diseased tissue directly. Shortly after the physician takes away all the visible cancer as feasible, a heated, a sterilized chemotherapy solution is circulated all through the mid-section by way of a technologically advanced perfusion procedure to kill the remaining 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, cancers that in general aren’t reactive to chemotherapy, but it’s currently seen as a promising new treatment method for gynecologic malignancy.
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