The cancer few women know.

Types of Treatment

What are the possible treatment choices?

Number 4:

Treatments.  There are three possible treatments for uterine cancer. They are surgical removal of the uterus, ovaries, and tubes that connect your uterus to your ovaries, radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy.

The earlier a tumor is found, the more options one has for treatment.  You and your doctor need to choose your treatment based on the stage of your cancer and your personal needs and preferences.  Together you will consider the size of your tumor, the speed of your tumor’s growth, your age, your general health, your desire to have children and your feelings about the side effects of the treatments.  Now let us discuss each of the choices.

In most cases, the doctor will suggest surgically removing your uterus, your ovaries, and the fallopian tubes that connect the uterus to the ovaries.  This procedure will remove the cancer cells from the body.  However, there are short-term and long-term side effects related to this surgery.  First, if the uterus is removed, you cannot have children.  Second, if you have not yet reached menopause naturally, removal of the ovaries will cause you to begin menopause.  Because the onset of menopause is the result of the surgical removal of the cells that produced your body's female hormones, the onset of menopause will be sudden, instead of a natural slow onset of menopause.  As a result, you may experience hot flushes, mood changes, and the symptoms commonly associated with menopause.  Since menopause can increase the risk of bone loss, you and your doctor should discuss how to slow this process.  Third, there are always risks to surgery such as infection and bleeding, and risks from receiving anesthesia, the drugs that put you to sleep during surgery.  Depending on the size and location of the tumor, surgery may or may not be an option.  If surgery is the recommended treatment, be sure to choose a surgeon who specializes in cancer surgery of the female organs.