Gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) constitutes a very rare group of tumors that can grow from cells inside a woman’s uterus. Unlike endometrial cancer, which arises from the lining of the uterus called the endometrium, GTN...
What is a sarcoma? As we briefly touched on in What are the types of uterine cancer, the uterus can give rise to different kinds of tumors. Those that develop out of the muscle or...
As we mentioned in chemotherapy given, a mediport is a means of giving chemotherapy. As opposed to an intravenous catheter, which is placed and then removed after it is done, a mediport is called a...
We do not, in general, make treatment decisions based on age. What is more important is how you are physically doing when you are diagnosed; a 45-year-old woman with end-stage complications from diabetes may be...
My doctor says I have advanced cancer of the uterus. Can I still be cured? Cancer that has spread beyond the uterus is not generally curable. The rate of surviving five years decreases dramatically as...
We touched on this briefly before, but in general, chemotherapy can cause lowering of the blood cell counts, which may put you at an increased risk for infection, anemia, or bleeding, hair loss, nausea, diarrhea,...
As previously discussed, all of the chemotherapy for endometrial cancer is given by vein. One of the drugs, doxorubicin, can be particularly dangerous if it leaks out of an intravenous drip (IV) into the skin....
Drugs known as platinum salts serve as the basis for treatment of endometrial cancer. The current data sup-ports a three-drug combination of cisplatin, doxoru-bicin, and paclitaxel. However, it is quite a difficult treatment to tolerate....
If you have positive lymph nodes or if you have involvement of the ovaries or tubes, you will likely need chemotherapy. In addition, if you have a serous papillary cancer of the uterus, your doctor...
Vaginal treatment is directed to the top of the vagina. Cells from the uterine cancer can potentially stick here and grow at the top of the vagina, called the “vaginal cuff.” This growth may be...
As we mention in Question 40, the decision to treat with radiation therapy is made on the basis of risk factors found at the time of surgery. These include the grade of the tumor, the...
Radiation therapy treats a particular part of the body and not the whole body. Endometrial cancer, if it recurs, is most likely to come back at the top of the vagina. In high-risk cases, recurrence...
What happens after surgery? The need for more treatment is determined by the stage of the cancer. This stage can only be determined by looking at the uterus and lymph nodes under the microscope. Radiation...
Robotic surgery is a special kind of laparoscopic surgery in which robotic “arms” are attached to the laparoscopic instruments. The robot allows the surgeon to have more freedom of motion and also to see your...
If your cancer is an endometrioid cancer that is grade 1 or 2, is less than halfway through the muscle of the uterus, and does not show involvement of vascular spaces in the uterus, then...
Most surgeons will remove lymph nodes for cancers that are high grade (grades 2 and 3), for cancers of all grades that are deeply invasive into the muscle, and for all papillary serous and clear...
There are side effects associated with having lymph nodes removed. Lymph node removal makes the surgery take longer and can also result in a higher risk of bleeding during surgery. In the short term after...
Some Gynecologic Oncologists believe that it is important to remove all of the lymph nodes in the pelvis and along the aorta in all cases of endometrial cancer, but most agree that certain patients can...
What Are They? The lymph nodes are bean sized structures that are part of the immune system. Endometrial cancer can spread to the lymph nodes along the veins and arteries in the pelvis. Your surgeon...
As noted in Have My Surgery Done Vaginally, removal of the cervix and ovaries is required for complete surgical treatment of endometrial cancer. In young women, the ovaries may be spared, but the risk that...
A vaginal hysterectomy is a reasonable surgical choice for carefully selected patients. The standard approach still requires total hysterectomy and removal of the ovaries. For women who are very large or who have significant medical...
How do they do this? The traditional method of removing the uterus for endometrial cancer is to remove it abdominally, through a vertical incision in the abdomen, called a laparotomy. This can sometimes also be...
Once the diagnosis of endometrial cancer has been made, you should see a Gynecologic Oncologist for your surgery if this is possible. Gynecologic Oncologists have the most experience with endometrial cancer. Unlike gynecologists, Gynecologic Oncologists...
Surgery is the best treatment for endometrial cancer and results in the highest cure rates. Sometimes a woman cannot have surgery, usually because she is too medically ill to have general anesthesia, or because she...
Cancer can spread in three ways: by extending into surrounding tissue; by passing through the blood sup-ply, a process called hematogenous dissemination; or by traveling in the lymphatic system, the “cleaning sys-tem” of the body,...