Women's Cancer We Treat

Types of cancer we treat include:

• Ovarian cancer, which is cancer within the ovaries, the female reproductive organs that produce eggs
• Uterine (endometrial) cancer, which is cancer that develops in the lining of the uterus (endometrium)
• Cervical cancer, cancer that occurs in the cervix, which connects the uterus and vagina
• Rare gynecologic cancers, including fallopian tube cancer (cancer of the tubes connecting a woman’s ovaries and uterus), uterine sarcoma (cancer of the muscles surrounding the uterus) and others

The experts at Cedars-Sinai Women's Cancer Program work together to review your case and determine a personalized treatment plan. We take a bench-to-bedside approach to treating cancer. We may use one treatment approach or a combination to help you get the optimal outcome.

Chemotherapy is a drug treatment that destroys or stops the growth of cancer cells. You may receive chemotherapy before surgery to shrink tumors. Or you may receive it after surgery to prevent the cancer from returning. Either way, we use the most innovative chemotherapy available and work with you to manage any side effects.

This aggressive medication slows the growth of cancer cells. Our team will determine the correct chemotherapy dosage for you and help manage any possible side effects.

Your doctor may prescribe medications that prevent or interfere with the growth of certain hormones that help cancer cells grow. We may use this approach alone or combined with other treatments.

This medication prompts the body’s own immune system to fight cancer. Your doctor will let you know if immunotherapy is an option for you.

When possible, our surgeons use minimally invasive robotic surgery. During this process, a surgeon makes tiny incisions to insert small surgical instruments. Robotic surgery allows the surgeon to act with greater precision while minimizing pain, discomfort and scarring.

Our goal is to remove as much of the cancer as we can in the least invasive way possible. We use laparoscopy and other minimally invasive gynecological surgery techniques in which the surgeon guides tiny instruments through small incisions. Healing from this type of surgery tends to be faster and less painful.

Other surgical treatments include:

• Radical hysterectomy: During this procedure, the surgeon removes the uterus, cervix and a small portion of the vagina. After this type of surgery, a woman will not be able to have children, but she will still be able to experience sexual pleasure. The specialists at the Cedars-Sinai Fertility and Reproductive Medicine Center will meet with you before the surgery to discuss your options.
• Radical trachelectomy: A gynecologic oncologist removes the cervix and a small part of the vagina. However, the uterus remains intact, so a woman is able to carry a pregnancy to term that will be delivered by cesarean section.

We use poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors, which were recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat women with ovarian cancer. PARP inhibitors can prevent damaged DNA within cancer cells from repairing, which causes the cancer cells to die.

Like chemotherapy, these cancer-fighting drugs slow or stop the growth of cancer. However, targeted therapy often has fewer side effects.

You may need radiation therapy (high-dose radiation beams aimed at the tumor) before or after surgery. The specialists at the Cedars-Sinai Radiation Oncology Department use advanced computer software and imaging to target the radiation beams directly at the tumor, minimizing exposure to healthy tissue.