IJGC Podcast

OUTBACK Trial with Linda Mileshkin

Linda Mileshkin (@Mileshkin / @anzgog)
In this episode of the IJGC podcast, Editor-in-Chief Dr. Pedro Ramirez is joined by Dr. Linda Mileshkin to discuss the OUTBACK Trial. Dr. Mileshkin is the Deputy Director of Medical Oncology at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and a board member of the Australia and New Zealand Gynaecological Oncology Group (ANZGOG). She is a clinician researcher with a particular interest in gynaecological cancer and cancer of unknown primary (CUP).
Highlights
- Adjuvant chemotherapy with carboplatin and paclitaxel chemotherapy given after standard chemoradiation to women with locally advanced cervical cancer did not improve survival or relapse rates and should not be given.
- There is a major unmet need to improve outcomes and access to treatment for women with cervical cancer, as this is a major cause of death and suffering worldwide, most notably in LMICs.
- International cooperation is needed to complete international clinical trials in cervical cancer so that we can robustly answer important questions about how to treat this disease.

Reviewing the June Issue with Enrique Chacon(Spanish version)

In this episode of the IJGC Podcast, Editorial Fellow Enrique Chacon discusses the contents of the June issue of IJGC in Spanish.

Reviewing the June Issue with Nicolò Bizzarri (Italian version)

In this episode of the IJGC Podcast, Editorial Fellow Nicolò Bizzarri discusses the contents of the June issue of IJGC in Italian.

Preoperative Assessment of Ovarian Cancer: Consensus Statement with Christina Fotopoulou

Christina Fotopoulou (@CF_PC_OvCaGroup)
In this episode of the IJGC podcast, Editor-in-Chief Dr. Pedro Ramirez, is joined by Professor Christina Fotopoulou to discuss the ESGO-ISUOG-IOTA-ESGE Consensus statements on the pre-operative diagnosis of ovarian tumors. Prof Fotopoulou works at the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College London, UK. She is an elected ESGO council member and Chair of the ESGO guidelines committee.
Highlights
- Multidisciplinary, specialized and expert diagnostic pathways of crucial importance to stratify patients adequately to the right management and team
- Objective diagnostic algorithms combining imaging, clinical, and biochemical features are now in place to characterize adnexal masses in a more standardized way with less subjective bias
- Our aim to homogenize, optimize and standardize diagnostic strategies across European Centers and beyond

Reviewing the June Issue with Anna Collins and Irina Tsibulak (English version)

In this episode of the IJGC Podcast, Editorial Fellows Anna Collins and Irina Tsibulak discuss the contents of the June issue of IJGC in English.

Financial Toxicity in Gynecologic Cancers with Katharine Esselen and Margaret Liang

(@K8SLN_MDMBA / @MLiangMD / @BIDMC_ObGyn / @UABOGYN / @ONealCancerUAB)
In this episode of the IJGC podcast, Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Pedro Ramirez, is joined by Drs. Katharine Esselen and Margaret Liang to discuss financial toxicity in gynecologic cancers and their article, “Evaluating meaningful levels of financial toxicity in gynecologic cancers,” which is the Lead Article of IJGC’s June 2021 issue.
Dr. Esselen, MD, MBA, is a gynecologic oncologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA. She is the Associate Fellowship Program Director and Director of Clinical Research for the Division of Gynecologic Oncology. Dr. Liang, MD, MS, is a gynecologic oncologist and health services researcher at University of Alabama at Birmingham and O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center. She is Network Relations Lead for the newly established Emotional Well-being and Economic Burden Research Network (EMOT-ECON).

Highlights
- ~50% of gynecologic cancer patients report financial toxicity and ~15% experience severe financial toxicity
- Patients with severe financial toxicity are 4.6 times more likely to report medication non-compliance
- More work needs to be done to understand the impact of financial toxicity on clinical outcomes including adherence to treatment and cancer survival
- Proposed interventions include development of screening tools, provider training in cost conversations, enhanced financial navigation, insurance optimization, improved workplace leave policies, and value-based care healthcare models"

Urine Cytology in Detection of Endometrial Cancer with Emma Crosbie

In this episode of the IJGC podcast, Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Pedro Ramirez, is joined by Dr. Emma Crosbie to discuss urine cytology in detection of endometrial cancer. Dr. Crosbie is an NIHR Advanced Fellow, Professor and Honorary Consultant in Gynaecological Oncology at the University of Manchester. Her research focuses on screening, prevention and early detection of gynaecological cancer.
Highlights:
• Current diagnostics for endometrial cancer are poorly tolerated by some, painful for others and unnecessary for most because only 5-10% of women with postmenopausal bleeding have endometrial cancer
• This proof-of-concept study showed that endometrial cancer cells can be collected from the urogenital tract using non-invasive sampling technologies and detected by cytology
• If confirmed in larger studies, this concept could form the basis of a simple, pain-free, easily administered test with potential for rapid, same day results to triage women for urgent investigation of suspected endometrial cancer, whilst safely reassuring healthy women
• Such a test could substantially reduce the psychological, physical and financial burden of the current diagnostic pathway for endometrial cancer
Emma Crosbie (@ProfEmmaCrosbie / @ECTeamSMH G25 / @ManchesterBRC / @UoMDCS / @MCRCNews / @FBMH_UoM / @MFT_SMH / @MFT_Research)

Randomized trial of liposomal bupivacaine on ERAS program with Larissa Meyer

In this episode of the IJGC podcast, Editor-in-Chief Dr. Pedro Ramirez, is joined by Dr. Larissa Meyer to discuss randomized trial of liposomal bupivacaine on ERAS program. Dr. Meyer is an associate professor in the Department of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine with a joint appointment in the Department of Health Services Research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Her research focuses on patient reported outcomes, with a focus on improving quality of life and shared medical decision making.
Highlights:
• To minimize bias, all surgeons on the study were all trained in injection techniques prior to enrolling patients and randomization was stratified by surgeon.
• The addition of liposomal bupivacaine to 0.25% bupivacaine for local wound infiltration did not improve the proportion of patients who were opioid free after laparotomy.
• The addition of liposomal bupivacaine to 0.25% bupivacaine for local wound infiltration did not improve key secondary endpoints such as patient reported pain or amount of opioids taken postoperatively.
Larissa Meyer (@LarissaAMeyerMD / @MDAndersonNews)

Reviewing the May Issue with Irina Tsibulak (Russian Version)

In this episode of the IJGC Podcast, Editorial Fellow Irina Tsibulak discusses the contents of the May issue of IJGC in Russian.

Tumor Staging of Endocervical Carcinoma with Esther Oliva

In this episode of the IJGC podcast, Editor-in-Chief Dr. Pedro Ramirez, is joined by Dr. Esther Olvia to discuss tumor staging of endocervical carcinoma. Dr. Oliva is a Pathologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Professor at Harvard Medical School and have been the recent past president of the International Society of Gynecologic Pathologists. She was born in Barcelona and trained under three giants of pathology, Dr. Robert E. Scully, Dr. Robert H. Young, and Dr. Jaime Prat.
Highlights
- Create awareness of difficulties encountered by pathologists when reporting findings on different cervical specimens for endocervical adenocarcinoma
- Highlight efforts to reach consensus among pathologists to standardize reporting for cervical specimens with adenocarcinoma
- Highlight the importance of synchronization between FIGO, TNM, and AJCC
- Clarify important issues in staging of endocervical adenocarcinoma including but not limited to measuring grossly visible tumor, exophytic tumors, and circumferential tumors, approach when dealing with multiple specimens or multiple tumors, and reporting tumor at margins
- Highlight areas that need more studies in order to provide useful recommendations, including ovarian involvement by endocervical adenocarcinoma, quantification of lymphovascular invasion, or evaluation of isolated tumor Cells among others.