Gynecologic Cancer Overview

There are five main types of cancer that affect a woman’s reproductive organs: cervical, ovarian, uterine, vaginal, and vulvar. As a group, they are referred to as gynecologic cancer.

What is Gynecologic Cancer?

Gynecologic cancer is any cancer that starts in a woman’s reproductive organs. Cancer is always named for the part of the body where it starts. The five gynecologic cancers begin in different places within a woman’s pelvis, which is the area below the stomach and in between the hip bones.

Learn more about each gynecologic cancer, including any potential warning signs:

• Cervical cancer begins in the cervix, which is the lower, narrow opening of the uterus. (The uterus is also called the womb.)
• Ovarian cancer begins in the ovaries, which are located on each side of the uterus.
• Uterine cancer begins in the uterus, the pear-shaped organ in a woman’s pelvis where the baby grows when a woman is pregnant.
• Vaginal cancer begins in the vagina, which is the hollow, tube-like channel between the bottom of the uterus and the outside of the body.
• Vulvar cancer begins in the vulva, the outer part of the female genital organs.

* Information on this page and others are redisplayed with permission from the Department of Health and Human Health Services Center for Disease Control.

Treating Gynecologic Cancers

After reviewing your case, your doctor will prescribe a treatment plan that may include one or more of the following treatments:

• Chemotherapy is typically used in conjunction with surgical procedures.
• Cone biopsy is a surgical procedure to find and treat a problem in the cervix.
• Hormonal therapy is used to block certain hormones such as estrogen and progesterone that may affect the way some cancers grow.
• Hysterectomy is the removal of the uterus and cervix.
• Hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy involves removal of the uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries.
• Intraperitoneal chemotherapy involves inserting a catheter into the abdominal cavity to deliver chemotherapy medications.
• Loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP).
• Pelvic exenteration may be considered if cancer has recurred in the pelvis.
• Radical hysterectomy is the removal of the cervix, uterus, fallopian tubes, ovaries, lymph nodes, and part of the vagina.
• Radiation therapy is the use of X-rays or other type of radiation to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors.
• Surgery is essential in the treatment for many gynecologic cancers.

Research Trials through the GOG

The gynecologic oncology group at Northwest Cancer Specialists is pleased to be an affiliate Gynecology Oncology Group (GOG) member through the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

The GOG, supported by grants through the National Cancer Institute and industry, is the premier research cooperative group for gynecologic cancers and has a long track record of sentinel research that has shaped our practice.  In the last decade, major improvements in the treatment paradigm for both advanced cervix (i.e., concurrent chemotherapy with radiation) and ovarian cancer (i.e., intraperitoneal chemotherapy) were the result of several large national and international GOG randomized controlled trials.  The opportunity to participate in similar trials will benefit our patients.  The following GOG trials are currently available and enrolling at Northwest Cancer Specialists:

• GOG 136 - Acquisition of human gynecologic specimens and serum to be used in studying the causes, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of cancer.
• GOG 173 - Intraoperative lymphatic mapping and sentinel node identification in patients with squamous carcinoma of the vulva.
• GOG 209 - A randomized phase III trial of doxorubicin/cisplatin/paclitaxel and G-CSF versus carboplatin/paclitaxel in patients with stage III, IV or recurrent endometrial cancer.
• GOG 210 - A Molecular Staging Study of Endometrial Carcinoma
• GOG 212 - A randomized phase III trial of maintenance chemotherapy comparing 12, monthly cycles of single agent paclitaxel or CT-2103 versus no treatment until documented relapse in women with advanced ovarian or primary peritoneal cancer after achieving a complete clinical response to primary platinum/taxane chemotherapy.
• GOG 213 – A Phase III randomized controlled clinical trial of carboplatin and paclitaxel alone or in combination with bevacizumab followed by bevacizumab and secondary cytoreductive surgery in platinum-sensitive recurrent ovarian, primary peritoneal, and fallopian tube cancer.
• GOG 218 – A phase III trial of carboplatin and paclitaxel plus placebo versus carboplatin and paclitaxel plus concurrent bevacizumab followed by placebo, versus carboplatin and paclitaxel plus concurrent and extended bevacizumab, in women with newly diagnosed, previously untreated, stage II or IV epithelial ovarian or primary peritoneal cancer.