Treating Womb Cancer

Surgery is the main treatment for womb cancer, although different methods can be used depending on your personal circumstances.

Cancer Treatment Team

People with cancer should be cared for by a team of specialists who work together to provide the best treatment and care. This is called a multidisciplinary team (MDT).

The team will consist of specialist cancer surgeons (gynaecological oncologists), a clinical oncologist (a specialist in radiotherapy treatment), a medical oncologist (a chemotherapy specialist), and a specialist nurse.

Other members will include a radiologist and pathologist. Specialists in supportive care, such as a palliative care physician and specialist palliative care nurses, may also be involved, as well as a dietitian, a physiotherapist, and an occupational therapist.

When deciding which treatment is best for you, your doctors will consider:

The stage of your cancer (how big it is and how far it has spread)
Your general health
Whether fertility is a matter of concern (this is rare because of the age at which womb cancer usually occurs)

Your MDT will recommend the best treatment for you based on these considerations, but the final decision is yours.

Before going to hospital to discuss your treatment options, it can be useful to write a list of questions you’d like to ask the specialist. For example, you may want to find out what the advantages and disadvantages of particular treatments are.

The stages of womb cancer and the main treatment options are outlined below.

Stages of womb cancer

Health professionals use a staging system to describe how far womb cancer has advanced. These stages are:

Stage 1 – the cancer is still contained inside the womb (uterus)
Stage 2 – the cancer has spread to the neck of the womb (the cervix)
Stage 3 – the cancer has spread outside the womb into nearby tissues in the pelvis or the lymph nodes
Stage 4 – the cancer has spread to the soft tissues of the abdomen, or into other organs, such as the bladder, bowel, liver, or lungs

Your chances of surviving womb cancer depend on the stage at which it’s diagnosed.

If womb cancer is diagnosed at stage 1, the outlook is good and around 95% of women live for at least five more years. Many women with stage 1 womb cancer are cured.

If womb cancer is diagnosed at stage 2, you have around a 77% chance of living at least five more years.

If the condition is diagnosed at stage 3, you have a 40% chance of living at least another five years.

Around one in four womb cancers are diagnosed at stage 4. By this point, you only have a 15% chance of living at least five more years.

SOURCE: NHS UK

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Cancer-of-the-uterus/Pages/Treatment.aspx