Uterine Cancer
What are the signs of uterine cancer?
What factors put me at risk for uterine cancer?
What is the most common treatment for uterine
cancer?
Also
See:
Cancer
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What are the signs of
uterine cancer?
Uterine cancer --
also called sarcoma of the uterus -- is a very rare kind of cancer in
women. It is a disease in which cancer (malignant) cells start growing in
the muscles or other supporting tissues of the uterus. Cancer of the
uterus is different from cancer of the endometrium, a disease in which
cancer cells start growing in the lining of the uterus. You should see
your doctor if you have bleeding after menopause (the time when you no
longer have menstrual periods) or bleeding that is not part of your
menstrual cycle. Cancer of the uterus usually occurs after menopause.
What factors
put me at risk for uterine cancer?
Currently, there has
been little insight into the exact causes for uterine cancer. However,
10-25 percent of malignancies occur in women who received pelvic radiation
five to 25 years earlier for benign bleeding. As in other cancers of its
type, risk factors for uterine cancer include diabetes, hypertension,
obesity, and improper estrogen levels.
What
is the most common treatment for uterine cancer?
Surgery is the most
common treatment for cancer of the uterus. Your doctor may take out the
cancer in an operation to remove the uterus, fallopian tubes and the
ovaries, along with some lymph nodes in the pelvis and around the aorta
(the main vessel in which blood passes away from the heart). The operation
is called a total abdominal hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy,
and lymphadenectomy. The lymph nodes are small bean-shaped structures that
are found throughout the body that produce and store infection-fighting
cells, but may contain cancer cells.
from
The Office On Women's Health - US Department of Health and Human Services
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