New Approach for Endometrial Cancer Treatment

New hope is on the horizon for those with endometrial cancer as new research shows combining chemo with immunotherapy during treatment is helping patients make progress.

Marilyn Solivan listened to her body when she noticed something wasn't quite normal.

"All of the sudden, I started spotting. So, I called my gynecologist right away," Solivan said.

Solivan was diagnosed with stage 1 endometrial cancer in 2016, and she had nodules on her lungs that confirmed it. She went through chemotherapy in 2017, and she was fine until a couple years later.

"In 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, I had another CT scan -- because I used to have CT scans every six months -- and I was good, but that one showed nodules," Solivan said.

That's when Peter Ledakis, M.D., of Medical Oncology and Hematology at Mercy Medical Center, recommended adding immunotherapy to Solivan's routine, along with oral chemotherapy.

"The goal is really to find treatment that ... patients can take, and they can live longer without a lot of side effects," Dr. Ledakis said.

According to Dr. Ledakis, Solivan started the immunotherapy after the chemotherapy because this was the recommendation several years ago. But now, he said, a new study shows that starting chemo with immunotherapy from the get-go has shown a significant reduction in the disease progression.

"The major breakthrough of this trial is for the first time, they added the immunotherapy drug, the Keytruda, that has already been in use for later and later phases of the disease to the frontline, so they combine with chemotherapy with the standard IV chemotherapy that we've been using for so long," Dr. Ledakis said.

Solivan said her new treatment is working, and her nodules have decreased.

"There's a lot of challenges because of the side effects, but I'm here. I'm doing well. I'm responding to the treatment, and I'm blessed," Solivan said.

View Mercy medical oncologist Dr. Peter Ledakis' interview on endometrial cancer treatment.