About Endometrial Cancer Treatment

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What is Endometrial Cancer?

Endometrial cancer refers to a type of cancer that begins in the uterus and specifically starts in the layer of cells of the endometrium (lining) of the uterus. It is also referred to as uterine cancer or cancer of the uterus. The uterus is an organ where a fetus grows and develops in the abdomen of women.

Preferences and Causes

Endometrium cancer occurs in women who are of 50 years of age and above and usually caused by hormonal imbalance, which is having excessive estrogen hormone and low progesterone hormone in the body. These hormones thicken and contract the uterus. With the hormonal imbalance, the endometrium gets thicker and thicker, and if this trend continues and stays in that state, the cancerous cells start to grow.

Other risk factors include:

• History of endometrial polyps
• Infrequent periods
• Breast or colon cancer
• Never having been pregnant
• Older age
• More years of menstruation

Symptoms of Endometrial Cancer

It is advisable to visit a doctor if any of the following symptoms arise:

• Pelvic cramping or lower abdominal pain
• Vaginal discharge or bleeding not related to your periods.
• Pain during sex
• Vaginal bleeding after menopause

Test and Treatment of the endometrial cancer

In the tests for this type of cancer, the doctor removes a sample of the endometrium to check for cancer cells, a process known as a biopsy. Treatment options include surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy depending on the stage and grade of cancer, as well as the risk for cancer to come back or spread to the other body parts. For the case of endometrial cancer, it is categorized into 4 stages.

• Stage 1: In this stage, the cancer is only in the uterus
• Stage 2: Cancer has spread a bit, and it is in the uterus and cervix.
• Stage 3: Cancer has already spread past the uterus and beyond the true pelvis area. It may have already spread to the lymph nodes in the pelvis and near the aorta.
• Stage 4: This is the final stage where cancer has already spread to the abdomen, bladder, inner surface of the bowel and other organs. Additionally, cancer may also be described in grades from 1 to 3, where grade 1 is least aggressive while grade 3 is most aggressive. A combination of treatment options is sometimes preferred for proper elimination of the cancerous cells.

Medicine choices: These include progestin hormone therapy and chemotherapy and are usually given after surgery. Progestin hormone therapy is used in case cancer comes back, spreads, or if you are unable to have radiation therapy or surgery. It is also applied to young women who wish to give birth in the future.

Surgery: This involves the removal of the entire uterus, and it is the most frequent method. Surgery has the highest probability of eliminating endometrial cancer and the doctor removes the uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, and the pelvic lymph nodes to examine the extent of cancer and further advice.

Radiotherapy: Radiations are given internally through the placement of a radioactive substance in the vagina or externally through delivering radiation from an outside source.

Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy (chemo) is when cancer-fighting drugs are given by mouth or into a vein. The drugs get into the bloodstream, then eventually to the entire body, making it useful for cancer that is beyond the endometrium. This treatment goes well with a combination of drugs. Combination chemotherapy at times works better in treating cancer as opposed to one drug alone.

Learn more about Endometrial Cancer

• Endometrial cancer definition on Mayo Clinic
• Endometrium (Uterine) Cancer – Topic Overview on WebMD
• Endometrial Cancer on United States National Library of Medicine