Peter Dottino, MD, is a gynecologic oncologist and surgeon who cares for patients as part of the Gynecologic Oncology Program at Smilow Cancer Hospital. He treats cancers of the reproductive tract, including cervical, ovarian, uterine, vaginal, and vulvar cancers. He is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in operative laparoscopy.
His message to patients is that cancer care has gone through incredible changes, and there are more options for patients than ever before. “You still hear the word ‘cancer’ whispered, and it seems like the end of the world, and you always hear the bad stories about it—never the good ones,” he says. “We have to demystify it.” He says most of those bad stories don’t apply now because the treatments have gotten so much better. “There's this hope for people where there never was before.”
“Minimally invasive surgery is still one the greatest advances,” says Dr. Dottino. “Currently, 75% to 80% of all the surgeries I do are minimally invasive, which means they are performed through small incisions, with such tiny instruments as a camera that we put in the abdomen.”
This reduces the chance a patient will get major incisions that result in big scars. Also, most people will go home the day of their surgery and return to work within a week to 10 days, he says. Those who need further treatment with chemotherapy and radiation can start that right away, and not have to wait through several weeks of recovery as they would with a traditional open surgery.
Dr. Dottino likes to take time to talk and listen to his patients, regardless of where they are in their care. “People want to connect with you in that way,” he says, adding that this can be especially rewarding. “I love what I do. You get to know patients and their families through the whole evolution of the illness.”
A professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Dottino has focused his research on developing diagnostic and screening tools for gynecologic cancers. He is currently involved in the development of a screening test for ovarian and uterine cancers, which he says are too often diagnosed at advanced stages, when they are most difficult to treat.
