Palliative care and quality of life
Key points 1. Palliative care is interdisciplinary care that seeks to prevent, relieve, or reduce the symptoms of a disease without affecting a cure. 2. Certain treatments may not result…
Targeted therapy and molecular genetics
Key points 1. The development of new and effective therapies should be rooted in a clear understanding of tumor biology. 2. Bevacizumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody to human vascular endothelial…
Basic principles of chemotherapy and other systemic therapies
Key points 1. In malignant tumors, unregulated growth appears to result from a combination of loss of normal cell cycle controls and a failure of normal apoptotic mechanisms. Despite uncontrolled…
Gestational trophoblastic disease
Gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) comprises a spectrum of neoplastic conditions derived from the placenta. Hydatidiform moles, gestational choriocarcinoma, placental site trophoblastic tumor (PSTT), and epithelioid trophoblastic tumor (ETT) are histologic…
Immunotherapy in gynecologic malignancies
In 1893, William Bradley Coley reported the case of a German immigrant with a neck sarcoma that was deemed inoperable and yet disappeared after an erysipelas infection ). Coley hypothesized…
Invasive cervical cancer
Key points 1. Conservative management of early-stage cervical cancer in young women should be considered if childbearing is important to that patient. 2. In many developing countries, cervical cancer is…
Breast diseases
Key points 1. Women who present with a breast mass require triple assessment , which comprises physical examination, breast imaging with mammography and ultrasound, and pathologic or cytologic evaluation. Discordant…
Invasive cancer of the vulva
Key points 1. Invasive vulvar cancer is a relatively rare tumor, accounting for 4% of all female genital malignant neoplasms. 2. Squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva develops by human…
Endometrial hyperplasia, estrogen therapy, and the prevention of endometrial cancer
Introduction The endometrium is a dynamic tissue in reproductive age women. It is continuously cycling in response to hormonal, stromal, and vascular influences, with the ultimate goal of implanting an…
Preinvasive disease and dystrophies of the vagina and vulva and related disorders
Key points 1. Vaccination for human papilloma virus (HPV) should decrease the incidence of high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSILs) of the vulva and vagina. 2. Lichen sclerosus is associated with…
