May 28^th 2019

International Day of Action for Women’s Health has been advocating for women’s health and well-being worldwide for over 30 years. This year, Cleveland Clinic in Florida are raising awareness for Gynecologic Cancers across the Caribbean and the latest treatment they can offer.

World Cancer Research Fund shows that over 18% of all newly diagnosed female cancers in 2018 were gynecological, cervical cancer being the fourth most common, contributing 6.9% to the total number of cases.

“Gynecological cancers represent 7% of cases reported to the Cayman Islands Cancer Registry. These include cancers of the cervix, ovary, uterus, vagina, and vulva.” says Amanda Nicholson, MA, Cayman Cancer Registrar.

Unfortunately, many do not report their diagnoses to the cancer registry resulting in limited cancer statistics for our community. In comparison to global numbers, this indicates that cases in Cayman may indeed be much higher than records show.

“Having a solid foundation of knowledge regarding how this disease impacts our community will help us do more to prevent and manage gynecological cancers within our population.” Says Amanda

Action for Women’s Health Day provides an important opportunity to draw attention to this issue in the Cayman community. For those who are suffering or have suffered from a gynecological cancers, registering this with Cayman Cancer Register can help with research and prevention.

The specialists at the Cleveland Clinic’s Maroone Cancer Center offers the latest in surgical, radiation and medical treatments for women with the most common gynecologic malignancies—endometrial, ovarian and cervical cancers—as well as other cancers affecting the female reproductive system. Most importantly, they and the support staff provide world-class, compassionate care in the most convenient fashion at a time in women’s lives when they need it the most.

In many instances, patients requiring combination treatments for a gynecologic cancer must schedule multiple appointments with multiple physician’s offices to come up with a course of treatment. This process can be frustrating, and it can delay a patient’s time to treatment. At the Maroone Center, a patient can see several specialists in one visit without leaving the medical campus.

The Maroone Cancer Center also offers external beam radiation and brachytherapy treatments that target gynecologic cancers more precisely while minimizing side effects. In some cases, a combination of these radiation treatments may be employed, explains Radiation Oncologist Eva Suarez, MD.

“It’s nice that patients can come to one location to have both external radiation and brachytherapy if both are needed,” she says. “There are a lot of centers where you can have external beam radiation, but then you have to go somewhere else to do the brachytherapy and meet a whole new team of doctors. This can be a burden for some patients.”

When chemotherapy is recommended, Maroone Cancer Center Medical Oncologist Nicole Eiseler, MD, provides the latest treatments, including newer, advanced therapies that harness the power of the immune system to fight gynecologic cancers. “Our collection of equipment and methods in treating cancer is expanding quite rapidly,” she says. “Immunotherapy is coming into play, and it correlates with the characteristics of the tumor. It only has the potential to get better as we study the genetics of the tumor. That’s going to give us more potential for treatment.”

Women with gynecologic cancer who visit the Maroone Cancer Center can expect not only comprehensive but also compassionate care.

“Compassionate care is extremely important in women’s health in general, but especially when a woman is facing cancer. Some patients have young children, some of them still wish to have children, and many of them have grandchildren,” Dr. Eiseler says. “It’s extremely scary to receive a diagnosis like this, so that’s where compassion comes in. You have to put yourself in the patient’s shoes. We do a really good job of that, and it’s because we’re compassionate doctors.”

About Cleveland Clinic

Cleveland Clinic Florida, located in Weston, West Palm Beach, Wellington, Palm Beach Gardens, Parkland, Coral Springs, is a not-for-profit, multi-specialty, academic medical center that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education. Cleveland Clinic Florida has 250 physicians with expertise in 55 specialties. The medical campus is fully integrated and includes diagnostic centers, outpatient surgery and a newly expanded 24-hour emergency department located in the state-of-the-art hospital.