Cryocompression Use by Multidisciplinary Teams May Help Gynecologic Cancer QOL

It is “everyone’s job” in a multidisciplinary team to monitor and adjust chemotherapy doses in patients with gynecologic cancers to prevent the occurrence of adverse effects including peripheral neuropathy, according to Mary Katherine Montes de Oca, MD.

At The Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) 2023 Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer, CancerNetwork^® spoke with Montes de Oca, an Obstetrics and Gynecology resident at Duke University Medical Center, about how cryocompression can be used within a multidisciplinary team that manages gynecologic cancers, including medical oncologists, gynecologic oncologists, advanced practice providers, and neurologists.

According to Montes de Oca, a neurologist specializing in neuropathy helped with carrying out a self-controlled trial evaluating the use cryocompression to prevent peripheral neuropathy induced by chemotherapy in patients with gynecologic cancers. Additionally, she stated that this intervention may prevent neuropathy completely, suggesting that those who prescribe and administer chemotherapy to patients may recommend cryocompression to help improve their quality of life.

Transcript:

We partnered with a neurologist to help us design this study, particularly somebody who specialized in neuropathy and how to diagnose neuropathy. But any time that we’re prescribing these treatments, a lot of places have a multidisciplinary team with medical oncologists, gynecologic oncologists, and [advanced practice practitioners].

It’s everyone’s job to both recognize when patients are developing neuropathy so that we can adequately change the chemotherapy dose to prevent adverse [effects]. However, this intervention can really help us to prevent their neuropathy in the first place. There are various [practitioners] who are prescribing the chemotherapy and can mention this intervention to the patients to really improve their quality of life.

Reference

Montes de Oca MK, Unnithan S, Erkanli AE, et al. Use of cryocompression to reduce peripheral neuropathy in gynecologic cancer: a randomized controlled trial. Presented at: 2023 SGO Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer; March 25-28, 2023; Tampa, Florida.