Gynecologic Oncology

History

The Department of Gynecologic Oncology at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center is a robust academic department engaged in clinical services, research and education for women with gynecologic cancers.

 

Since its inception in 1964, Dr. Jian-peng Lin wasthe first to chair the department. At that time, only a 10-bed wing was opened with 5 doctors in the Department. The faculty members had to provide service of surgery, chemotherapy and Radium therapy, which has been performed by the department of radiation since the 1980s. The department progressed steadily and laid a stable foundation for future growth with the efforts of several generations. Sooner after its inception when Dr. Ji-hong Liu was appointed Chairman in 2006, the department has developed rapidly and touched unprecedented heights. We are proud that the Key Department of Guangdong Province was awarded us in 2011 for our excellent achievements. Nowadays, the department has become a leading center in China, which includes three inpatient units with 105 beds and one colposcopy clinic. Approximately 3,500 hospital admissions are recorded annually. Over 2,000 gynecologic surgeries are performed each year. Of that, more than 85% are radical abdominal/pelvic procedures for malignancies arising from the female reproductive tract.

 

 

Clinical services

The department is committed to provide comprehensive, outstanding care to women with pre-invasive (benign and in-situ)and invasive (malignant) gynecologic cancers. Our experienced team is skilledin the diagnosis and treatment of malignancies arising in the female reproductive tract - ovary, endometrium, cervix, vulva and vagina. We offer high-quality cervical screening in the clinic. In addition, we provide free screening opportunities for laid-off feminine workers on International Women’s Day every year. The medical practices mainly include open surgical procedures, minimally invasive surgeries for both benign and malignant gynecologic diseases, intravenous and intraperitoneal chemotherapy (inc. hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy, HIPEC).

 

We are proud of our standardized treatment for patients. A clinical practice guideline for our department has been developed since 2006, which is established based on FIGO and NCCN guidelines, as well as our own clinical studies and experiences. In the year 2010, the guideline was published and became a popular handbook for doctors who practice general obstetrics and gynecology as well as gynecologic oncologists nation-wide. Thanks to our long tradition in offering unified, superior quality medical care to women, the outcomes of treatment for our patients is excellent in domestic range.

 

We take a multidisciplinary approach to provide comprehensive care that is tailored to patients with advanced and recurrent diseases. Prof. Jihong Liu performed the first pelvic exenteration for a 25 young lady with relapsed cervical cancer after radical surgery and radiation. Since then, she has headed the department to perform this procedure for more than 50 cases with recurrent diseases, which offered salvage therapy for those patients in very late stage and brought them better quality of life. We also provide the extraordinary patient care from our innovative and individualized programs,such as pre-operative radiation to advanced/recurrent vulvar carcinoma for anus- or urethral-preserving surgery, neoadjuvant chemotherapy and conservative surgery for cervical cancer to preserve young patients’ fertility, etc.

 

Education

As a university affiliated hospital and a pioneer research institution in oncology field,we offer postgraduate fellowships to train students who seek special expertise in both clinical and research sets of gynecologic oncology. Many doctors from other hospitals around country who practice general gynecology or gynecologic oncology are attracted to participate in our short-term rotation program. Here they are given a chance to fully involve the clinical aspects of gynecologic oncology. Our faculty members keep themselves regularly updated by attending various national and international level conferences.

 

Since 2002, a national continue medical education program (‘Standardization and Progress in Gynecologic oncology’) has been organized and proceeded annually by the department. In the year 2009, Prof Liu,the department director and the team initiated and hosted an annual academic meeting - South-China Ovarian Carcinoma Summit Forum, which has been now nationwide and highly appreciated in the field.

 

Research

Our faculty members are actively involved in a variety of clinical, translational and basic research programs. A number of studies are being carried on in our laboratory that is focused on better understanding each type of gynecologic diseases. A lot of research results have been published in various national and international journals.We also actively participate in numerous global clinical trials that may make innovative therapies for our patients. In the year 2008, we began to conduct a large randomized control study to compare different adjuvant therapy after radical surgery in early-stage cervical carcinoma with adverse pathological factors.The interim results of this 3-Arm multicenter trial has been accepted for an oral presentation in 15^th biannual meeting of International Gynecologic Cancer Society (IGCS) in Melbourne and we are looking forward to the final results.

 

Our View

We are proud of our status as a premiere center in the field of gynecologic oncology. Our department will keep developing, featuring in excellent, innovative and superior quality in patient care, education and research to benefit women at all stage of their lives as we always do.