GYN Cancer Treatments -- 718.246.8500

New York Methodist Hospital offers state-of-the-art service in surgery, chemotherapy, interventional radiology procedures and radiation therapy.

Many breast and reproductive organ cancers involve surgery, both to diagnose and treat the illness.  If surgery is needed, patients may be offered the option of laparoscopic surgery.  This technique can be used for select cases of early uterine cancers, ovarian tumors and others. 

For women's who have undergone surgery for ovarian cancer and other conditions, we offer peritoneal chemotherapy. The therapy is designed for women with a small amount of cancerous tissue still remaining after initial surgery.  After surgery, the chemotherapy drugs are used to coat the remaining tumor cells, like a wash, resulting in the elimination of any remaining cancerous cells. Intraperitoneal chemotherapy is the latest and most preferred chemotherapy treatment for many women living with ovarian cancer because of its effectiveness.

In the area of breast cancer, breast conservation therapy has become a treatment of choice for many women.   This less invasive form of treatment usually involves the removal of a tumor (lumpectomy) followed by radiation therapy, as opposed to mastectomy, a more radical procedure with equivalent results.

Chemotherapy is administered under the direct supervision of one of NYM’s gynecological oncologists to optimize the continuity of care, and the most advanced techniques are offered at NYM, which is a regional radiation oncology center.  Doctors at New York Methodist are equipped to offer a new breast conservation radiation therapy technique that significantly reduces treatment time, and targets therapeutic radiation much more precisely. A new brachytherapy technique may be used as the primary radiation treatment after a lumpectomy. This technique requires only two treatments a day, over a five-day period, as opposed to approximately 28 treatments given over six weeks.  In addition to significantly shortening the time needed for radiation therapy, the new technique is advantageous in its ability to specifically target radiation to the area where cancer is most likely to recur. It also limits the amount of damaging radiation exposure to the patient’s skin and other surrounding healthy tissue. Therapy can be given on an in- or outpatient basis.

Radiology procedures are also playing a larger role in cancer care. MRI, CT and PET scans are used to diagnose and stage cancers.  Using catheters inserted through arteries, interventional radiologists can control bleeding by blocking the blood supply to tumors and can provide relief to patients by draining excess fluid that may be caused by cancer.

For more information, please call 718.246.8500.