The impact of expanding gynecologic oncology care to ovarian cancer patients in small cities and rural communities.

Abstract Objective Patients with ovarian cancer from smaller cities and rural communities face unique challenges in accessing comprehensive care. This study compares management strategies, outcomes, and access to care for patients in a small city and surrounding rural communities before and after establishing a full-time gynecologic oncology (GO) office. Methods A local tumor registry was used to identify patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer before and after a full-time GO office was established. Quantitative analyses were used to compare disease characteristics, management strategies, overall survival, and distance traveled for care between cohorts. Results Out of 381 patients, 171 women were diagnosed prior to establishing a full-time GO office (pre-GO) and 210 after (post-GO). Post-GO patients were more likely to undergo surgery by a GO specialist (97.1% versus 53.2%, p Conclusion After establishing a full-time GO office within a small city, local patients had significantly improved overall survival and access to care. These results highlight the benefit of expanding GO care into small cities with surrounding rural communities and may be used to address public health discrepancies for women across the country.