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Patients who have gynecologic cancer have fresh new hope in a innovative 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.

Completed as soon as possible following surgical treatment, HIPEC brings heated chemotherapy through a ‘hot bath’ into the abdominal cavity, where it can penetrate diseased tissue directly. Once the surgeon removes all the visible cancer as possible, a heated, a sterilized chemotherapy solution is distributed throughout the midsection through a technologically sophisticated perfusion technique to eradicate 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, cancers of which usually ordinarily are not receptive to chemotherapy, however it’s now seen as a promising fresh remedy for gynecologic malignancy.