What Does It Mean To Have An Endometrial Adenocarcinoma?

As we discussed, endometrial adenocarcinomas arise from the lining of the endometrium, and hence are also termed epithelial cancers. The specific type of adeno-carcinoma is diagnosed by the pathologist, based on what the cells look like when seen under a microscope. The most common of the epithelial adenocarcinomas is called endometrioid adenocarcinoma. Other types of uterine adenocarcinomas are:

  • Papillary
  • Secretory
  • Ciliated cell
  • Adenocarcinoma with squamous differentiation
  • Mucinous
  • Clear cell

When the cells under the microscope are so abnormal that they do not look like any of those listed above, the pathologist may refer to it as an “Undifferentiated” adenocarcinoma.

Joan said: It means a whole new vocabulary and a whole new world to Google (with care in selecting the sites you visit). I asked my surgeon the first time I met him which websites he would recommend and stuck to those and added the cancer center he is associated with. You learn it means you are one of the lucky ones–it is the best of the bad possibilities.