Sentara brings ground-breaking ovarian cancer treatment to Hampton Roads

When piercing stomach pains sent Becky Kirby to the emergency department in October 2023, a CT scan revealed shadowing on the lining of her abdomen. Upon further examination, her organs were covered with cancer, as if “someone had thrown sand into a carpet.”

“The doctor told me, ‘No doubt it’s cancer and it’s a five-alarm fire,’” said Kirby, who was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer at the age of 63. “My head just spins because I had convinced myself it couldn’t be anything bad. For years I’ve had testing done for abdominal discomfort, but nothing ever showed up.”

Kirby’s case is all too common. Approximately 80% of women with ovarian cancer are diagnosed at stage 3 or 4 due to lack of symptoms.

“It’s so hard for me to imagine that women are walking around with ovarian cancer in their body,” Kirby said.

According to the American Cancer Society, each year in the U.S., nearly 20,000 women will receive a new diagnosis of ovarian cancer and about 13,000 women will die from it.  About half of the women diagnosed with ovarian cancer are 63 years or older.

Late-stage ovarian cancer is the leading cause of gynecological death, and with a high rate of reoccurrence there is a critical need for improved treatments beyond traditional chemotherapy.

‘An extra two hours for an extra year? I’ll take it!’

In 2016, Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital became a hub for gynecologic oncology care in Hampton Roads and launched a DaVinci robotic surgery program to provide minimally invasive treatments for women.

In October 2023, around the time Kirby was diagnosed, Virginia Oncology Associates, which performs cancer treatments at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital, welcomed Danielle Chau, M.D., and Devin Miller, M.D., as new gynecologic oncologists.

Dr. Chau and Dr. Miller came to the region to help establish a Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC) program to treat ovarian cancer at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital. This program would save Kirby’s life.

HIPEC therapy involves surgeons removing cancerous tumors and then filling the patient’s abdominal cavity with a solution of heated chemotherapy to kill any remaining cancer cells by direct contact. The solution is much stronger than patients can tolerate via infusion.

“We feel incredibly lucky that we have such an awesome team of anesthesiologists, perfusionists, and support at Sentara Virginia Beach,” said Dr. Chau. “We’re able to offer a highly coordinated process at a community hospital as opposed to a large academic center, which is very exciting.”

Dr. Chau completed her fellowship at Cleveland Clinic, home to one of the largest and most comprehensive HIPEC programs in the U.S.

A 2018 study in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that women who received HIPEC therapy had about a 12-month survival benefit compared to women who got surgery alone and traditional chemotherapy.

“I talk about the risks of having an extra two hours under anesthesia in the operating room and I feel like a lot of folks end up saying to me, ‘Geez Dr. Chau, an extra two hours for an extra year? I’ll take it!’”

Becky Kirby donates a bell to Danielle Chau, M.D., a gynecologic oncologist. This bell hangs in the Virginia Oncology Associates office. When patients successfully complete cancer treatment, they can ring it to celebrate.  

In February 2024, Kirby was Dr. Chau’s first patient to undergo HIPEC at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital. Dr. Chau removed Kirby’s cancerous organs, then filled Kirby’s abdomen with the heated chemotherapy solution to kill any remaining cancer cells.

“The care was amazing and all the doctors, the nurses, were very excited. I was like this special patient that had this new thing done,” said Kirby, who spent six days in the hospital. “Everybody was interested in how I was doing, how I was feeling, and the care was very, very good.”

Kirby would go on to have three more 21-day cycles of traditional chemotherapy infusions. She is currently in remission and getting tested every three months. As a recent retiree, she looks forward to sailing the British Virgin Islands with her husband. Kirby was so pleased with her outcome, she donated a bell to the Virginia Oncology Associates office in Virginia Beach, which patients can ring when they successfully complete cancer treatment.

“The goal of all this is really giving women their life back and allowing them to celebrate the things that are important to them,” said Dr. Chau. “The HIPEC program is in full swing, we’re having good outcomes, and we’re really excited to be serving the women in the community.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 12% of Virginia Beach’s female population was 60 years or older in 2020, highlighting the need for specialized and advanced treatments for age-related gynecologic cancers.

Women who qualify for HIPEC must have stage 3 ovarian cancer and have already received three or four cycles of regular chemotherapy, which is successfully shrinking their cancer.

Learn more about cancer services at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital.

Sentara would like to thank the Markman-Goldberg family who generously donated $250K in memory of Jeffrey Markman who passed away at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital in 2010. Their donation has funded advanced state-of-the-art equipment, including a Belmont Hyperthermia Pump for HIPEC.