Illinois' First: How A Duly Doctor Is Changing Ovarian Cancer Surgery

When ovar­i­an can­cer surgery is on the table, what the sur­geon can see mat­ters just as much as what they know. And some­times, the most dan­ger­ous can­cer cells are the ones hid­ing in plain sight. 

That’s the chal­lenge gyne­co­log­ic oncol­o­gist Dr. Sameer Shar­ma has spent more than two decades solv­ing. Now, he’s added a pow­er­ful new tool to his approach, one that quite lit­er­al­ly lights up can­cer cells dur­ing surgery.

Dr. Shar­ma recent­ly became the first physi­cian in Illi­nois to per­form ovar­i­an can­cer surgery using Cytalux, an FDA-approved imag­ing agent that caus­es can­cer­ous tis­sue to glow under spe­cial­ized cam­eras. It’s a sig­nif­i­cant step for­ward for patients across the Chicagoland area and beyond.

A Sur­geon Built for Com­plex Cases

Before div­ing into the tech­nol­o­gy, it helps to under­stand who’s wield­ing it.

Dr. Shar­ma per­forms approx­i­mate­ly 60 advanced ovar­i­an can­cer surg­eries each year, and is among the high­est-vol­ume ovar­i­an can­cer sur­geons in the coun­try. That num­ber isn’t just impres­sive, it’s clin­i­cal­ly mean­ing­ful. Research con­sis­tent­ly shows that patients treat­ed by expe­ri­enced, high-vol­ume gyne­co­log­ic oncol­o­gists have bet­ter out­comes, par­tic­u­lar­ly for ovar­i­an can­cer where com­plete tumor removal can make or break long-term survival.

With more than 20 years of spe­cial­ized onco­log­ic sur­gi­cal expe­ri­ence, Dr. Shar­ma has seen ovar­i­an can­cer care evolve through count­less inno­va­tions. He worked in an aca­d­e­m­ic set­ting for 15 years in Chica­go and also per­formed basic sci­ence on ear­ly detec­tion of ovar­i­an can­cer. But Cytalux, he says, address­es some­thing that’s always been at the heart of the challenge.

“Ovar­i­an can­cer surgery often comes down to what you can’t see,” Dr. Shar­ma explains. ​“Cytalux gives us anoth­er set of eyes in the oper­at­ing room. When can­cer cells light up, it helps us be more pre­cise, more con­fi­dent, and ulti­mate­ly more effec­tive for our patients.”

Have ques­tions about ovar­i­an can­cer treat­ment? Duly’s gyne­co­log­ic oncol­o­gy team is here to help. Sched­ule a con­sul­ta­tion to dis­cuss your care options. >

What is Cytalux and How Does it Work?

Cytalux is an imag­ing agent admin­is­tered before surgery. Once in the body, it binds to a spe­cif­ic recep­tor found on ovar­i­an can­cer cells. Under a spe­cial­ized near-infrared cam­era sys­tem, those cells then glow a blue-green col­or that sur­geons can’t see with the naked eye alone.

Think of it like this: stan­dard sur­gi­cal light­ing shows what’s obvi­ous­ly there. Cytalux reveals what might oth­er­wise stay hid­den. The process unfolds in three steps:

1. Giv­en before surgery. Patients receive Cytalux through an infu­sion pri­or to their pro­ce­dure, giv­ing it time to cir­cu­late and attach to can­cer cells.
2. Can­cer cells glow under spe­cial­ized imag­ing. Dur­ing surgery, Dr. Shar­ma uses a cam­era sys­tem that detects the flu­o­res­cence, high­light­ing areas of disease.
3. Sur­geons can iden­ti­fy can­cer that might oth­er­wise go unde­tect­ed. Tiny deposits of can­cer — some­times just mil­lime­ters in size — become vis­i­ble, allow­ing for more thor­ough removal.

Why Remov­ing Every Bit of Can­cer Matters

Ovar­i­an can­cer remains one of the most dead­ly gyne­co­log­ic can­cers, claim­ing more than 12,000 lives each year in the Unit­ed States. Near­ly 500 of those deaths occur in Illi­nois alone.

What makes ovar­i­an can­cer par­tic­u­lar­ly dif­fi­cult is that sur­vival depends heav­i­ly on how com­plete­ly the tumor is removed dur­ing surgery. Micro­scop­ic dis­ease left behind can lead to recur­rence, com­pli­cat­ing treat­ment and affect­ing long-term outcomes.

“For patients, this tech­nol­o­gy can mean the dif­fer­ence between leav­ing micro­scop­ic dis­ease behind and remov­ing every­thing we pos­si­bly can,” Dr. Shar­ma says. ​“That mat­ters — not just for today’s surgery but for what comes next in their treat­ment and recovery.”

In oth­er words, what hap­pens in the oper­at­ing room rip­ples for­ward into chemother­a­py effec­tive­ness, recov­ery time­lines, and the like­li­hood of the can­cer returning.

Expe­ri­ence and Inno­va­tion Work­ing Together

Advanced tech­nol­o­gy is only as good as the hands using it. That’s part of what makes Dr. Shar­ma’s adop­tion of Cytalux is sig­nif­i­cant — he brings the pro­ce­dur­al vol­ume and sur­gi­cal judg­ment need­ed to use it effectively.

Only a small num­ber of health sys­tems nation­wide cur­rent­ly offer Cytalux for ovar­i­an can­cer surgery. By mak­ing it avail­able at Duly Health and Care, Dr. Shar­ma is ensur­ing patients in the Chica­go area have access to cut­ting-edge can­cer care with­out trav­el­ing out of state.

“Inno­va­tions like this, com­bined with expe­ri­enced sur­gi­cal care, give us new ways to push out­comes in the right direc­tion — right here in the com­mu­ni­ty,” Dr. Shar­ma notes.

It’s not about flash or nov­el­ty. It’s about giv­ing patients every pos­si­ble advan­tage when fac­ing a dif­fi­cult diagnosis.

Who May Ben­e­fit from Cytalux-Guid­ed Surgery?

Cytalux is typ­i­cal­ly con­sid­ered for patients under­go­ing surgery for sus­pect­ed or con­firmed ovar­i­an can­cer. Whether it’s appro­pri­ate depends on the indi­vid­ual case — fac­tors like can­cer stage, sur­gi­cal approach, and over­all treat­ment plan all play a role.

Dr. Shar­ma and his team eval­u­ate each patient indi­vid­u­al­ly to deter­mine if Cytalux-assist­ed surgery makes sense for their sit­u­a­tion. It’s not a fit for every case, but for many patients, it offers an added lay­er of pre­ci­sion that was­n’t pre­vi­ous­ly available.

Rec­og­niz­ing Ovar­i­an Can­cer Symptoms

Ovar­i­an can­cer is often called a ​“silent” dis­ease because symp­toms can be vague and easy to dis­miss. But pay­ing atten­tion to per­sis­tent changes in your body can lead to ear­li­er detection.

Symp­toms to watch for include:

• Bloat­ing that does­n’t go away
• Pelvic or abdom­i­nal pain
• Feel­ing full quick­ly when eating
• Uri­nary urgency or frequency
• Unex­plained abdom­i­nal swelling

If any of these symp­toms per­sist for more than a few weeks, it’s worth hav­ing a con­ver­sa­tion with your provider. Ear­ly eval­u­a­tion by a spe­cial­ist can make a mean­ing­ful dif­fer­ence in treat­ment options and outcomes.

Pre­ci­sion, Expe­ri­ence, and Care Close to Home

Ovar­i­an can­cer demands a lot from patients and their fam­i­lies. The diag­no­sis is heavy, the treat­ment is inten­sive, and the stakes are high.

What Dr. Shar­ma and the gyne­co­log­ic oncol­o­gy team at Duly Health and Care offer is a com­bi­na­tion that’s hard to find: decades of spe­cial­ized sur­gi­cal expe­ri­ence, access to the lat­est tech­nol­o­gy like Cytalux, and care deliv­ered right here in the community.

For patients fac­ing ovar­i­an can­cer, that com­bi­na­tion can mean more thor­ough surgery, clear­er treat­ment paths, and the reas­sur­ance that comes from know­ing you’re in expe­ri­enced hands.

If you or a loved one has been diag­nosed with ovar­i­an can­cer, ear­ly eval­u­a­tion by a gyne­co­log­ic oncol­o­gist can shape your treat­ment journey.

Sched­ule a con­sul­ta­tion with Dr. Shar­ma and the Bri­an Moran Can­cer Insti­tute team to learn more about your options. >