Treatment Options by Stage
A link to a list of current clinical trials is included for each treatment section. For some types or stages of cancer, there may not be any trials listed. Check with your doctor for clinical trials that are not listed here but may be right for you.
Stage I Endometrial Cancer
Understanding Cervical Cancer -- Treatment
Every woman should have a regular pelvic exam and Pap test, which tests a cervical cell sample for abnormalities. Together, these procedures detect cervical cancer 95% of the time, often long before the disease produces symptoms. If your Pap test is abnormal, your doctor may test you again. Recently, some doctors have started to test for HPV at the time of Pap smear. If a high-risk type of HPV is found in women with an abnormal Pap test, doctors are more inclined to do a colposcopy (magnified exam...
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Treatment of stage I endometrial cancer may include the following:
- Surgery (total abdominalhysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy). Lymph nodes in the pelvis and abdomen may also be removed for examination under a microscope to check for cancercells.
- Surgery (total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, with or without removal of lymph nodes in the pelvis and abdomen) followed by internal radiation therapy or external radiation therapy to the pelvis. After surgery, a plastic cylinder containing a source of radiation may be placed in the vagina to kill any remaining cancer cells.
- Radiation therapy alone for patients who cannot have surgery.
- Clinical trials of radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy.
Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's list of cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with stage I endometrial carcinoma. For more specific results, refine the search by using other search features, such as the location of the trial, the type of treatment, or the name of the drug. General information about clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.
Stage II Endometrial Cancer
Treatment of stage IIA endometrial cancer is usually a combination of therapies, including internal and external radiation therapy and surgery.
Stage IIA
Treatment of stage IIA endometrial cancer may include the following:
- Surgery (total abdominalhysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy). Lymph nodes in the pelvis and abdomen may also be removed for examination under a microscope to check for cancercells.
- Surgery (total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, with or without removal of lymph nodes in the pelvis and abdomen) followed by internal radiation therapy or external radiation therapy to the pelvis. After surgery, a plastic cylinder containing a source of radiation may be placed in the vagina to kill any remaining cancer cells.
- Radiation therapy alone for patients who cannot have surgery.
- Clinical trials of radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy.
Stage IIB
Treatment of stage IIB endometrial cancer may include the following:
- Surgery (total abdominalhysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, and removal of lymph nodes in the pelvis and abdomen for examination under a microscope to check for cancercells) followed by radiation therapy.
- Internal radiation therapy and external radiation therapy, followed by surgery (hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, and removal of lymph nodes in the pelvis and abdomen for examination under a microscope to check for cancer cells).
- Surgery (radical hysterectomy with or without removal of lymph nodes in the pelvis for examination under a microscope to check for cancer cells).
Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's list of cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with stage II endometrial carcinoma. For more specific results, refine the search by using other search features, such as the location of the trial, the type of treatment, or the name of the drug. General information about clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.
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