Symptoms of endometrial cancer can include bleeding between menstrual periods and exessive bleeding during periods. The most common symptom is abnormal bleeding after menopause. Bleeding may begin as a watery, blood-streaked liquid coming from the vagina. Later, this discharge may contain more blood. Cancer of the uterus does not often occur before menopause, but it often occurs around the time menopause begins.
Endometrial cancer is seen mostly in women between the ages of fifty and seventy.
Risk factors for uterine cancer include being overweight, having few or no children, beginning menstruation early, or a late menopause. Estrogen replacement therapy, which uses estrogen alone, is linked to increased risk of uterine cancer. However, most estrogen therapy now uses a combination of estrogen and another female hormone, progesterone. This combination-replacement therapy, like birth control pills, is thought to lessen the risk of uterine cancer. As with other cancers, early detection offers the best chance for a cure.