Discussing Adjuvant Therapy Options for Endometrial Cancer

David Barrington, MD, obstetrics & gynecology specialist at Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses adjuvant treatments that are currently available for patients with stage 1B, grade 3 endometrial cancer.

A number of treatment options are available for patients with stage 1B, grade 3 endometrial cancer, including external beam radiation, adjuvant chemotherapy, and more. However, the ideal way to treat these patients remains unknown.

With emerging, clinical and preclinical data showing a relationship between immunotherapy checkpoint inhibitors and radiation, Barrington notes that it will be important to look into the molecular characteristics of these tumors in order for experts to determine how to best treat them.

Transcription:

0:08 | There are a variety of different treatment options. The NCCN guidelines really cover the full gamut, including vaginal breaking therapy for some candidates, external beam radiation to include whole pelvic radiation, and the use of adjuvant chemotherapy as well. Physicians have a choice of using any or all of these modalities. We really are not at a place where we know the optimal treatment for 1B grade 3 endometrial cancer. We know that they have a high density for distant recurrence, but we also do not know the ideal way to treat these patients with adjuvant therapy.

0:58 | I think some of the things that I'm most excited about is starting to look more at the molecular characteristics of these tumors. We know that mismatch repair protein status for these cancers is an exciting opportunity for those with the mismatch repair protein deficiencies. It's an exciting opportunity to incorporate immunotherapy with radiation. We know there's been emerging clinical and preclinical data to show synergy between immunotherapy checkpoint inhibitors and radiation, so those are some of the things that are the most exciting landscape for these early stage cancers.