Treatment Options
If you have been diagnosed with endometrial or uterine cancer, you should know that this is the most common cancer of the female reproductive organs among American women. It can often be cured, especially when diagnosed early.
If you have been referred to SCCA for treatment, there are some of the treatment choices you may be offered. Remember, each woman's cancer is different, as are her circumstances, preferences and beliefs. A treatment that works well for another woman may not be right for you.
• Standard Treatment
• Follow-up after Treatment
• Treating a Recurrence
Standard Treatment
Surgery is the standard treatment for endometrial cancer. Your doctors may recommend following your surgery with:
• Radiation
• Hormonal Therapy, or
• Chemotherapy
Surgery
If your doctor has recommended surgery as treatment for your endometrial cancer, you will probably have a hysterectomy, which is surgery to remove the uterus.
Your surgeon will remove your uterus and may also remove lymph nodes from the pelvis and abdomen. The lymph nodes are biopsied to determine if the cancer has spread. Your surgery may be followed by a series of radiation therapy treatments.
Hysterectomies, node dissections and, when appropriate, ovarian or endometrial cancer staging/restaging can now be performed minimally invasively with robotics, like the da Vinci Surgical System. This system enhances the surgeons capabilities and is shown to improve outcomes. The robot allows surgeons to do surgery without a large incision. It does not improve tumor control, but it does improve patient outcomes by reducing post operative pain, infection, blood loss, and reducing recovery time.
Surgery for SCCA patients is performed at University of Washington Medical Center, by surgeons who provide care at both UW Medical Center and SCCA.
Some women will have radiation therapy after surgery. If your cancer cannot be removed surgically, you may have radiation therapy as your primary treatment.
You will probably have a biopsy during the early stages of your diagnosis and treatment to remove tissue samples from your cancer for examination by a pathologist. SCCA has a dedicated pathologist who specializes in the diagnosis of gynecologic cancer.
The biopsy will show whether your cancer is likely to grow slowly or quickly, whether it is likely to recur, and whether it is likely to respond to certain types of treatment. The treatment recommended by your doctors will depend to a large degree on the "stage" of your cancer, which means how far the disease has progressed.
Follow-up after treatment
SCCA physicians offer long-term follow-up to their patients for as long as they choose, while most doctors who treat gynecologic cancers send women back to their primary care doctors for follow-up. Typically, you will come for checkups every three months for the first two years after your treatment for endometrial cancer.
Women who reach the two-year mark without having a recurrence of their disease are less likely to have a recurrence and can be seen less often. From that point, we usually ask you to come in every six months for a checkup until five years have passed. After five years, a once-a-year checkup is all that is recommended.
"Across the country, we are unique in that we provide better service than anywhere I'm aware of," says Dr. Benjamin Greer, SCCA gynecologic oncologist. "This is in terms of personal continuity, relationships and long-term follow-up. We do it, others don't."
Our patients say that they find it reassuring to see the same doctors who treated them--experts in gynecologic cancers--for their follow-up visits.
"I'm blessed," says Suzanne Larsen, an ovarian cancer survivor and patient of Dr. Greer's. "I'm one of the survivors. But it came from finding the right person for surgery and for treatment. I still have some anxiety, but it's like my security blanket to know that Dr. Greer is there."
If you have been referred to SCCA for treatment, there are some of the treatment choices you may be offered. Remember, each woman's cancer is different, as are her circumstances, preferences and beliefs. A treatment that works well for another woman may not be right for you.
• Standard Treatment
• Follow-up after Treatment
• Treating a Recurrence
Standard Treatment
Surgery is the standard treatment for endometrial cancer. Your doctors may recommend following your surgery with:
• Radiation
• Hormonal Therapy, or
• Chemotherapy
Surgery
If your doctor has recommended surgery as treatment for your endometrial cancer, you will probably have a hysterectomy, which is surgery to remove the uterus.
Your surgeon will remove your uterus and may also remove lymph nodes from the pelvis and abdomen. The lymph nodes are biopsied to determine if the cancer has spread. Your surgery may be followed by a series of radiation therapy treatments.
Hysterectomies, node dissections and, when appropriate, ovarian or endometrial cancer staging/restaging can now be performed minimally invasively with robotics, like the da Vinci Surgical System. This system enhances the surgeons capabilities and is shown to improve outcomes. The robot allows surgeons to do surgery without a large incision. It does not improve tumor control, but it does improve patient outcomes by reducing post operative pain, infection, blood loss, and reducing recovery time.
Surgery for SCCA patients is performed at University of Washington Medical Center, by surgeons who provide care at both UW Medical Center and SCCA.
Some women will have radiation therapy after surgery. If your cancer cannot be removed surgically, you may have radiation therapy as your primary treatment.
You will probably have a biopsy during the early stages of your diagnosis and treatment to remove tissue samples from your cancer for examination by a pathologist. SCCA has a dedicated pathologist who specializes in the diagnosis of gynecologic cancer.
The biopsy will show whether your cancer is likely to grow slowly or quickly, whether it is likely to recur, and whether it is likely to respond to certain types of treatment. The treatment recommended by your doctors will depend to a large degree on the "stage" of your cancer, which means how far the disease has progressed.
Follow-up after treatment
SCCA physicians offer long-term follow-up to their patients for as long as they choose, while most doctors who treat gynecologic cancers send women back to their primary care doctors for follow-up. Typically, you will come for checkups every three months for the first two years after your treatment for endometrial cancer.
Women who reach the two-year mark without having a recurrence of their disease are less likely to have a recurrence and can be seen less often. From that point, we usually ask you to come in every six months for a checkup until five years have passed. After five years, a once-a-year checkup is all that is recommended.
"Across the country, we are unique in that we provide better service than anywhere I'm aware of," says Dr. Benjamin Greer, SCCA gynecologic oncologist. "This is in terms of personal continuity, relationships and long-term follow-up. We do it, others don't."
Our patients say that they find it reassuring to see the same doctors who treated them--experts in gynecologic cancers--for their follow-up visits.
"I'm blessed," says Suzanne Larsen, an ovarian cancer survivor and patient of Dr. Greer's. "I'm one of the survivors. But it came from finding the right person for surgery and for treatment. I still have some anxiety, but it's like my security blanket to know that Dr. Greer is there."