Empowering Awareness to Address Rising Gynecological Cancer Incidence
Ginger J. Gardner, MD, FACOG, highlights disease prevention innovations and other ongoing efforts to empower education in the gynecologic cancer field.
In a conversation with CancerNetwork®, Ginger J. Gardner, MD, FACOG, spoke about current research and advocacy efforts to improve clinical outcomes among patients with gynecological cancers. With diagnoses of gynecologic malignancies on the rise around the world, Gardner also highlighted the next steps for raising awareness in the field and addressing gaps in care.
Gardner is a gynecologic surgeon at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, as well as the chair of the board for the Foundation for Women's Cancer (FWC).
According to Gardner, approximately 115,000 of those in the United States and 1 million patients across the world are diagnosed with gynecologic cancer. Additionally, she highlighted a growing incidence of uterine cancers, which included a 2-fold increase in mortality among patients who are Black in the United States compared with other populations.
As part of raising awareness in this patient population and advancing potential therapeutic solutions, Gardner described ongoing initiatives at FWC to facilitate collaboration among scientists, researchers, and gynecologic oncology providers to help improve outcomes. Regarding potential treatment innovations, she also highlighted clinical trials designed to assess various disease prevention methods and other therapies like targeted agents, PARP inhibitors, and antiangiogenic treatments.
Looking ahead, Gardner detailed other potential developments in the gynecologic cancer space that she is excited about. For example, she spoke about future efforts to further uncover the tumor biology and molecular heterogeneity associated with these malignancies, which may help providers optimize treatment plans for patients.
“We are seeing some impact in improvement for gynecologic cancers with innovation in many of our disciplines; that includes disease prevention and innovative modalities related to treatment, inclusive of surgical innovation, new targeted therapies, refining radiation treatment, and ultimately patient-reported outcomes. We need to keep our eye on the ball for where we’re going next,” Gardner stated. “It is hard to dial it into just 1 or 2 snapshots, but I am so thankful that we have this time together to talk about the importance of gynecologic health awareness and research because it is important that we raise this conversation.”
