Endometrial Cancer: Long-Term Risk Factors When Untreated - Dr. Magtibay
Dr. Magtibay recalls the long-term risk factors associated with untreated endometrial cancer, a disease that starts in the uterine lining and can spread to the bladder and rectum, or into the bloodstream where it often travels to the lungs and the liver. Dr. Magtibay is a gynecologic oncologist at Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona.
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Dr. Magtibay:
So, endometrial cancer needs to be treated and again, it needs to be treated by expert clinician and physician such as a gynecologic oncologist. Now fortunately, the vast majority, over 75 percent of endometrial cancers are caught in stage 1, meaning often times all we need to do for these patients is remove the uterus tubes in ovaries and maybe lymph nodes, and that’s it. We are able to cure many of these patients with surgery alone.
Some patients, however, need additional treatments such as radiation therapy or chemotherapy and the surgical staging, meaning the surgical evaluation of what procedure we do in the operating room is very important from that standpoint, meaning endometrial cancer surgically staged, meaning we remove the uterus tubes in ovaries. We remove the lymph nodes, and we look all around the abdomen, do biopsies to see if that cancer has spread because that will determine not only whether or not you need additional treatment but determines your survivability of the disease.
