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help some women keep the ability to have children • Minimally invasive surgeries, including robotic and laparoscopic radical hysterectomy • Enhanced recovery protocols • Chemotherapy, biologic and immunotherapy “Each patient is unique and deserves personalized care, which requires a multidisciplinary approach. We are unique as a surgery department because we also prescribe chemotherapy,” says Karen Lu, M.D., chair of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine, the country’s largest gynecologic oncology department. Twenty-nine doctors provide expert care to patients in the Laura Lee Blanton Gynecologic Oncology Center at MD Anderson. In Fiscal Year 2018, they attended 3,810 new patient visits and consults, and performed 1,176 operations. Doctors also see patients at MD Anderson in League City, West Houston, Memorial City, Sugar Land, and The Woodlands, and at Texas Woman’s Hospital and Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital in Houston. MD Anderson also boasts 11 research faculty dedicated to gynecologic oncology and reproductive medicine. In addition to treating gynecologic cancers, our team also has a strong commitment to prevention. Our Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine faculty staff a specialized colposcopy clinic for pre-invasive cervical, vaginal and vulvar disease, and a high-risk clinic for women at inherited risk for ovarian and endometrial cancer. We have a unique Oncofertility Clinic to give men and women options to preserve fertility before cancer treatment. Practice-changing innovation MD Anderson has been the birthplace of many surgical techniques and treatments that have become the standard of care for many types of gynecologic cancers. Our physician investigators are constantly re-evaluating and building on those techniques to help our patients live longer, healthier lives with less side effects. In what became known as the LACC (Laparoscopic Approach to Cervical Cancer) study, Pedro Ramirez, M.D., professor of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine, led a team that studied minimally invasive surgery in treating early-stage cervical cancer. The researchers found that these newer methods were actually less effective and posed a greater risk for patients than the traditional radical hysterectomy. It led to a major shift in the way MD Anderson treats cervical cancer. In this Phase III clinical trial, Ramirez and colleagues compared minimally invasive radical hysterectomies to open, traditional surgery. The By Kellie Bramlet Blackburn At 26, small cell ovarian cancer was the last thing on Tabby Soignier’s mind, but she knew the bloating, pain and headaches she’d been experiencing meant something was wrong. In summer 2011, Tabby made a visit to a local clinic, where a doctor conducted an ultrasound and said that it looked like Tabby’s uterus had swelled to the size of a 20-week pregnant woman’s. But Tabby knew she wasn’t pregnant. She scheduled an appointment with her gynecologist. Tabby’s doctor found a 15 cm tumor on her right ovary. She had surgery to remove it that night. Two days later, Tabby learned the tumor was malignant and she had a rare type of cancer: small cell ovarian carcinoma. Tabby knew right away she wanted to seek treatment at MD Anderson. “If you’re going to go through something like this, you want the best,” she says. Less than a week later, Tabby had her first appointment with Kathleen Schmeler, M.D., an associate professor of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine who detailed her treatment plan: six rounds of chemotherapy. It wasn’t easy. Tabby endured nausea and lost her hair. She watched so many other people ring the bell — a sign they had completed treatment — and wondered if she would ever do the same. Then, Tabby got her chance. “Ringing the bell was an incredible feeling,” she says. “I was grinning so hard my cheeks hurt.” She was now cancer free. Today Tabby visits MD Anderson every six months. She continues her work as a sports reporter in Louisiana, where she lives with her husband, and their greatest gift – a baby boy. “You couldn’t ask for more than just living,” she says. “But to bring life into this world is just tremendous.” Small cell ovarian cancer survivor grateful for life and new beginnings A longer version of this story originally appeared on MD Anderson’s Cancerwise blog. 20 MD Anderson Cancer Center study’s results showed that patients who had minimally invasive radical hysterectomies were four times more likely to experience recurrence than those who had open surgery. They also had lower survival rates. This study’s results were shocking. But another study MD Anderson performed in collaboration with Harvard University, Columbia University and Northwestern University found results that supported the LACC trial. This retrospective epidemiologic study, led by J. Alejandro Rauh-Hain, M.D., assistant professor of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine, included analysis of data from two large cancer databases, the National Cancer Database and the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results database. “Our research also found that compared with open surgery, minimally invasive surgery increased the risk of death among women who underwent radical hysterectomy for early-stage cervical cancer,” says Rauh-Hain.
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