Guides for Patients are designed to assist patients, their relatives and caregivers to better understand the nature of different types of cancer and evaluate the best available treatment choices.
What is endometrial cancer?
Endometrial cancer refers to several types of malignancies that arise from the endometrium - the inner tissue lining the uterus, or womb (the small, hollow, pear-shaped organ in a woman's pelvis in which a foetus develops). Most endometrial cancers are carcinomas (usually adenocarcinomas), meaning that they originate from the single layer of epithelial cells that line the endometrium and form the endometrial glands that make and release mucus and other fluids. There are two main subtypes of endometrial cancer.
Beyond a definition of endometrial cancer, in this guide for patients you will find answers to questions such as:
- Is endometrial cancer frequent?
- What causes endometrial cancer?
- How is endometrial cancer diagnosed?
- What is it important to know to get the optimal treatment?
- What are the treatment options?
- What are the possible side effects of the treatments?
- What happens after the treatment?
This guide for patients has been prepared in collaboration with Anti-Cancer Fund as a service to patients, to help patients and their relatives better understand the nature of Endometrial Cancer and appreciate the best treatment choices available according to the subtype of Endometrial Cancer. ESMO recommends that patients ask their doctors about what tests or types of treatments are needed for their type and stage of disease.
Patient Guides for Endometrial Cancer were published in 2011.
To enquire about permission to translate or support the distribution (in English or in a translated version) of the Patient Guides series, please send an e-mail to patient_guides@esmo.org