Advances in Vulvar Cancer: A Radiation Oncology Perspective

Despite being a rare malignancy, there have been several changes in the management paradigm for vulvar cancer. This review of the literature was undertaken to highlight key areas of treatment innovation and progress, including efforts to de-escalate morbid surgical resection as well as perform dose escalation of radiotherapy and incorporation of modern systemic agents to achieve better oncologic outcomes. There is still much debate regarding key high-risk pathology features and their corresponding prognostic significance and indications for adjuvant treatments. However, we are also developing a more nuanced understanding of the importance of precursor lesions and resultant subtypes of vulvar cancer, which suggests that there are more subtypes beyond the umbrella distinction of HPV status. Moving forward, we anticipate there will be an increasing number of trials investigating the triaging of management recommendations based on risk.