New light-up technology aims to improve ovarian cancer surgery

What if doctors could see cancer that might otherwise be missed during surgery?

For people facing ovarian cancer, that could make a life-changing difference. A new technology being used locally makes cancerous cells literally light up in the operating room, helping surgeons see what needs to be removed.

Colleen Abbott, 60, has always been an advocate for her health. So when she felt pressure in her pelvic area, she listened to her body and kept pushing for answers.

“He believed in me when I kept telling him I wasn’t feeling well,” Abbott said. “We did test after test after test.”

A series of tests revealed the devastating news: the Gaithersburg mother had ovarian cancer.

“They went to do a hysterectomy and found the cancer that had spread throughout my abdomen,” Abbott said. “It started in a fallopian tube. That’s when my world changed.”

Diagnosed in February, Abbott was determined to fight the disease, becoming the first local person to have surgery using a new FDA-approved imaging drug called CYTALUX.

The drug is given as an infusion before surgery and causes ovarian cancer cells to literally “light up” in the operating room giving surgeons a high-tech visual tool to differentiate the good from the bad in real time.

“And especially after chemotherapy where some of the cancer’s been treated, you can’t tell, ‘Do I need to take this out or not?’ That dye will help us see if that is a viable tumor or not,” said Dr. Leslie Randall, director of Gynecologic Oncology at Inova Schar Cancer.

She said that distinction matters because cancerous tissue can be hard to see with the naked eye. But not everything that lights up is cancer, so surgeons have to use their judgment.

“We have to be on the lookout for lymph nodes that light up with the dye because they may not have cancer,” Randall said.

In clinical trials, CYTALUX helped surgeons identify additional cancer that may have been missed in nearly 30% of patients, and that can make a big difference.

“We usually only do surgery one time in the whole disease course of ovarian cancer, so this surgery is to pack a punch,” Randall said. “So I just wanna remove as much as possible if I am going in there, so this just helps me see it better.”

Ovarian cancer is the deadliest gynecologic cancer in the United States, with more than 12,000 deaths each year. It’s often diagnosed at an advanced stage because symptoms can be vague, and there’s no routine screening test for women at average risk.

Abbott has had six rounds of chemo and surgery and said she’s grateful to Randall and the “glow” technology that put her on the road to recovery.

“I’m in remission now because they got all of it,” Abbott said. “Can you imagine how many more women this can help? More and more women will have more time with their families.”

Inova is the first health system in Virginia and the Mid-Atlantic to use CYTALUX for ovarian cancer surgery.

Some patients reported minor side effects like nausea from the drug, but doctors can manage it with medication and say most people tolerate it well.