Diagnosis and Treatment of Vulvar Cancer

According to the American Cancer Society, just under 4000 women will be diagnosed with vulvar cancer in 2004. The most common forms of vulvar cancer are slow growing and the disease is very curable when detected early.

Stanford Expertise

Stanford offers advanced treatment approaches to vulvar cancer focused on maximal conservation of a woman's anatomy while enhancing survival rates.

• Although each patient is treated individually, our typical surgical approach to vulvar cancer is wide local resection, tailored to the characteristics of the lesion, which retains as much normal tissue and function as possible. The lymph nodes are removed by a separate incision to maximize the rate of primary union and minimize lymphocyst formation.
  
  
• For advanced-stage patients, chemotherapy before surgery is given with concurrent radiation to shrink the tumor. This technique reduces the amount of tissue that needs to be removed during surgery and potentially improves outcomes.