Usually, the surgery involves an abdominal incision, but sometimes laparoscopic or trans-vaginal operations can be performed. At the time of the surgery, the doctor also removes samples of other tissues, such as lymph nodes, to which the cancer may have spread. Accurate surgical staging is vital, as it is the primary means of determining whether or not additional post-surgical therapy is needed. Some women with endometrial cancer, because of other medical problems or other factors, are not good candidates for surgical treatment. The usual treatment in these cases is radiation therapy.
Survival rates are poor.
Aggressive modern treatment of endometrial cancer can reduce the risk of death from this disease. Patient education about risk factors and early warning signs should help with prevention and early detection. And new radiation therapy techniques, along with new chemotherapeutic agents and delivery methods, will hopefully reduce mortality rates in the coming years. James W. Orr, Jr. and Diane Shader Smith are affiliated with the Gynecologic Cancer Foundation.