Adapted for the Canadian edition by Barry Rosen, MD
Malignant tumors of the vulva account for 3 to 5 percent of all cancers of the female genital tract and are easily cured when diagnosed at an early stage. And, because of better access to routine gynecologic care, these cancers are being diagnosed at an earlier stage.
Surgery has long been the mainstay of treatment, but views about the extent of surgery have changed over the years. In the 1940s, it was noted that the failure rate was much higher with conservative surgical measures. Since then, more radical operations have been performed with a marked improvement in the survival rate. But recently, as younger women with earlier disease are diagnosed with vulvar cancer, there has been a trend toward more conservative surgery with a greater emphasis on limiting the psychosexual consequences of therapy and preserving the normal female genital anatomy. Similarly, there has been a recent trend toward using local radiation therapy with chemotherapy in advanced cases either to reduce the amount of surgery needed or to improve the chance that the tumor can be removed.
