Opus

Affected individuals who have gynecologic cancer have great new hope in a creative technology currently introduced 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.

Completed promptly following surgical treatment, HIPEC makes available heated chemotherapy through a ‘hot bath’ into the abdominal cavity, where it can penetrate diseased tissue directly. After the doctor takes away as much visible cancer as viable, a heated, a sterilized chemotherapy solution is distributed throughout the abdomen by way of a technologically advanced perfusion system to eliminate 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, varieties of cancer that generally speaking are not reactive to chemotherapy, yet it’s currently considered as an encouraging new remedy for gynecologic malignancy.