Men and women who have gynecologic cancer have brand-new anticipation 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.

Completed immediately following surgery, HIPEC provides heated chemotherapy through a ‘hot bath’ into the abdominal cavity, where it can penetrate diseased tissue directly. Shortly after the doctor takes out the maximum visible cancer as practical, a heated, a sterilized chemotherapy solution is circulated within the abdomen by using a technically advanced perfusion technique to kill 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, varieties of cancer that typically are usually not reactive to chemotherapy, however it is now considered as an encouraging fresh remedy for gynecologic malignancy.