Gynecologic Cancer
Gynecologic cancer is any cancer that starts in a woman’s reproductive organs.
Common types of gynecologic cancer include:
Comprehensive Care
As knowledge about gynecologic cancer continues to expand, more encouraging treatment options are available now than ever before.
The experts at OSF HealthCare can use minimally invasive laparoscopic procedures, including robotic surgery, for gynecological cancer.
This approach shortens recovery times from six weeks to two, decreases pain after the operation, requires smaller incisions and reduces the risk of complications.
You receive care from specialists who use the most innovative approaches to treat gynecological cancers, including cervical, endometrial, fallopian tube, ovarian, uterine, vaginal or vulvar.
Our treatments are designed to cure cancer while minimizing the effects on the rest of your body and overall health.
Your Care Team
As a patient, you will not only have a patient navigator to serve as an advocate every step of your cancer journey, you can benefit from the collaboration of multidisciplinary teams that meet weekly to review individual patient cases and discuss treatment plans.
The team includes:
- Medical oncologists - doctors who use specialized drugs to treat cancer
- Radiation oncologists - doctors who use radiation to treat cancer
- Radiologists - doctors who use imaging to diagnose cancer
- Surgical oncologists - doctors who remove cancer through surgery
Gynecologic Oncology Surgery
When medication and non-invasive procedures are unable to relieve symptoms, surgery remains the accepted and most effective treatment for a range of gynecologic conditions, including cervical and uterine cancer, uterine fibroids, endometriosis, uterine prolapse and menorrhagia or excessive bleeding.
Open Surgery
Traditional open gynecologic surgery, using a large incision for access to the uterus and surrounding anatomy, has been the standard approach for many procedures for many years.
Yet with open surgery can come significant pain, trauma, a long recovery process and risk of harming surrounding organs and nerves.
For women facing gynecologic surgery, the period of pain, discomfort, and extended time away from normal daily activities that usually follow traditional surgery can cause anxiety. Fortunately, less invasive options are available.
Some gynecologic procedures enable surgeons to use a vaginal approach that may not require an external incision.
Robotic Surgery
But for complex hysterectomies and other gynecologic procedures, robot-assisted surgery with the da Vinci® Surgical System may be the most effective, least invasive treatment option.
Through tiny incisions, surgeons using the da Vinci System can operate with greater precision and control, minimizing the pain and risk associated with large incisions while increasing the likelihood of a fast recovery and excellent clinical outcomes.