Gynecologic Oncology

Human papillomavirus vaccines provide still some benefit to women who have undergone treatment for HPV-related diseases, according to a new study published in the British Medical Journal.

New screening guidelines for the prevention and early detection of cervical cancer are now largely based on the patient’s age, and testing for HPV DNA has now been incorporated into the screening process.

New screening guidelines for the prevention and early detection of cervical cancer are now largely based on the patient’s age and, for the first time, testing for human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA has been incorporated into the screening process.

Laparoscopic staging of uterine cancer is associated with only a small increased risk of recurrence, according to a new study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Your patient just received devastating news: she has cancer. As treatment options and anxieties swirl, more and more women are now faced with another issue: how will the cancer and its treatment impact their fertility?

Two new studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine point to the importance of using bevacizumab in the treatment of ovarian cancer. Bevacizumab, a recombinant humanized monoclonal antibody directed against the vascular endothelial growth factor, has shown single-agent activity in women with recurrent tumors.

With its implications of sexual transmission and potential cervical cancer, a diagnosis of genital warts can be emotionally distressing to patients. Because no single treatment serves every patient, the best approach to selecting a therapeutic option considers the extent of the disease, wart location, and the patient's individual needs.

Who should have a Pap Smear?Any woman who is sexually active or is at least 18 years old should have a Pap smear. Cervical cancer is most commonly caused by HPV (Human Papilloma Virus).

As the use of assisted reproductive technologies has increased, so, too, has the concern over its effects on the female reproductive system. Specifically, the increased gonadotrophin levels in ovarian cancer pathogenesis coupled with the multiple ovarian punctures and repeated ovarian stimulation associated with in vitro fertilization have raised concerns that IVF may increase the risk of ovarian malignancies.

A 35 year old patient presents with a high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HGSIL) Pap smear. There is an unsatisfactory colposcopy; the transformation zone was not sampled. The biopsy shows slight atypia. What’s your next move?

PCOS is a metabolic disorder that affects 5 – 7.5% of all women. It is the number one cause of infertility and if left untreated, can increase risk of endometrial cancer. In addition, women with PCOS are at a greater risk for heart disease and diabetes.

My husband Bryan and I have been married 10 years. We tried for the first 3 years of our marriage to get pregnant to no avail. Three months after we were married we found out that I had pre-cervical cancer and had laser surgery to get rid of the bad cells.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists released a new committee opinion urging clinicians to treat all patients presenting with vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia (VIN). The opinion is a result of an increasing incidence of VIN, particularly among US women in their 40s. The full opinion was published in the November issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Now open for public comment, the US Preventive Task Force (USPTF) has drafted a recommendation statement that updates their 2003 recommendations for screening for cervical cancer. Based on research examining benefits and risks associated with screening across various groups of women, the new draft recommendations note which women most benefit from cervical cancer screening.

Reassuring news for clinicians treating pregnant patients with cancer: chemotherapy does not appear to cause developmental problems in offspring. Dr Frederic Amant, assistant professor, staff gynecologic oncologist, and head of the scientific section of gynecologic oncology at Katholieke Universiteit in Leuven, Belgium, presented these findings at the 2011 European Multidisciplinary Cancer Congress.

To mark January 2004 as Cervical Cancer Screening Month, the National Cervical Cancer Public Education Campaign today urged women to get screened for cervical cancer in order to prevent the disease.

Cervical cancer is the second most common gynecological cancer amongst women world-wide. Despite optimized protocols, standard treatments still face several disadvantages. Therefore, research aims at the development of immune-based strategies using tumor antigen-loaded dendritic cells for the induction of cellular anti-tumor immunity.

In a recent study, researchers found that, while the IUD did not protect HPV infection, it may impede the progression of HPV to cervical cancer.  With this in mind would you recommend the use of an IUD to your patients who have tested positive for HPV in order to possibly prevent cervical cancer?

Based on the protective effects of intrauterine devices against endometrial cancer, researchers hypothesized that IUDs may also have a protective effect against cervical cancer. However, results from epidemiological and clinical studies to date have been inconclusive.

Of the 600,000 hysterectomies performed yearly in the U.S., approximately 300,000 are accompanied by prophylactic bilateral oophorectomy, traditionally suggested as the best strategy to decrease the rate of ovarian cancer.

This is a term that includes several conditions that are associated with the results of a pregnancy. The conditions are molar pregnancy, invasive mole, metastatic mole and gestational choriocarcinoma(korio carcinoma). These are cancers and cancer like conditions of placental elements. The concept is so far beyond most people's experience, that unless they have been to medical school they will never have heard of it. It is not uncommon.

Cancer of the vagina is rare. It is almost always a squamous cell cancer. The exception is an adenocarcinoma that occurs in women who were exposed to DES (diethylstilbestrol) in-utero. One of the reasons that it is rare is that cancers of the vagina that also involve the vulva are considered to be vulvar cancers; if it involves the cervix it is considered to be a cervical cancer. Vaginal cancer may cause symptoms of abnormal bleeding and foul discharge. Bleeding after intercourse is a symptom of cancer of the vagina as well as cancer of the cervix.

The cervix is the part of the uterus connected to the upper vagina. It is the structure that dilates during childbirth to allow the baby to traverse the birth canal. There are two major types of cancer that develop from the cervix. Squamous cell cancers arise from the squamous epithelium that covers the visible part of the cervix. Adenocarcinomas arise from the glandular lining of the endocervical canal.

Cancer of the vulva is not a common disease. There are about 4,000 new cases each year in the United States. Although it can occur in women in the third and fourth decade it is usually diagnosed in older women. Over 95% of vulvar cancers arise from the squamous epithelium. The remainder are mostly melanomas. The cause of squamous cancer of the vulva is unknown but there is a weak association with Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). The most important feature about vulvar cancers is the premalignant phase.

Cancer statistics are usually not based on an accurate count of cases but on estimations derived from various sources. There is no national cancer registry that counts every cancer diagnosed each year. The American Cancer Society publishes annual estimates based on a compilation of several local tumor registries and extrapolates these to the US population. Like all statistics, cancer numbers can be misused and misunderstood.