Dr. Farr Nezhat, MD, FACOG, FACS, was among the first surgeons to apply minimally invasive surgical techniques toward the treatment of gynecological malignancies. He demonstrated safety and efficacy of these techniques, and his work resulted in several groundbreaking peer-reviewed publications on laparoscopic and robotic management of cervical, uterine and especially ovarian cancer. He is a frequently invited faculty participant at national and international medical congresses, speaking about and demonstrating surgical techniques for ovarian cancer. Dr. Nezhat’s clinical practice is a surgical referral center welcoming women from across the United States and abroad for consultations in the New York, NY, metropolitan area, with offices in downtown Manhattan and Valley Stream, Long Island.
Ovarian cancer originates in the ovaries and refers to not only ovarian cancer, but also fallopian tube and primary peritoneal cancer.
It is the ninth most common cancer in women and the fifth most deadly.
It is the second most common gynecologic malignancy in developed countries.
In the U.S. it is expected there will be 22,000 new cases and 14,000 cancer-related deaths per year.
The lifetime risk is 1:70 and the average age at diagnosis in the U.S. is 63 years old.
Ovarian cancer is often diagnosed at an advanced stage after it has spread to distant areas, making it more difficult to treat. Even when the cancer has spread, its symptoms are often mistaken for other health conditions.
The cause of ovarian cancer is not known and there is no way to predict who will get it, but there are certain factors which make a woman more likely to develop it.
Dr. Nezhat specializes in the application of minimally invasive surgical techniques to treat ovarian cancer. He performs all the standard procedures historically performed via open surgery, but he does so through small incisions.
These procedures include hysterectomy, removal of ovaries and tumors, lymph node dissection, omentectomy (removal of fatty tissue attached to the stomach and colon), pelvic washing (irrigation of the pelvic cavity to wash away cancerous cells), tumor debulking, and collection of biopsies.
Biopsies are obtained from various areas, including the lining of the abdomen and sent for pathology evaluation. This is referred to as “staging” and is used to determine the extent and spread of disease.
Sometimes open surgery is required, but the ultimate goal is to utilize the smallest incisions to remove all visible signs of disease and optimize outcome.
Dr. Nezhat wishes to highlight the following peer-reviewed articles published in widely respected journals demonstrating the safety and efficacy of minimally invasive surgical management of ovarian cancer.
Nezhat FR, Ezzati M, Chuang L, Shamshirsaz AA, Rahaman J, Gretz H. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2009 Jan;200(1):83.e1-6.
Nezhat FR, Denoble SM, Cho JE, Brown DN, Soto E, Chuang L, Gretz H, Saharia P. JSLS 2012 Oct-Dec;16(4):511-8.
Nezhat FR, DeNoble SM, Liu CS, Cho JE, Brown DN, Chuang L, Gretz H, Saharia P. JSLS 2010 Apr-Jun;14(2):155-68.
Nezhat FR, Finger TN, Vetere P, Radjabi AR, Vega M, Averbuch L, Khalil S, Altinbas SK, Lax D. Int J Gynecol Cancer 2014 Mar;24(3):600-7.
Nezhat FR, Khalil SS, Finger TN, Vetere PF. Gynecol Surg 2014 11:27.
A listing of over 210 of Dr. Nezhat’s research articles can be found at the PubMed search engine, which pulls references and abstracts from the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) database maintained at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
