Signs And Symptoms Of Uterine Cancer

Cervical cancer is a uterine cancer. There are several types of cancer in the uterus. Women with uterine cancer may experience the following symptoms or signs. Sometimes, women with uterine cancer do not have any of these changes. Or, the cause of a symptom may be a different medical condition that is not cancer. At 90 to 95% it is cancer of the uterine mucosa. This form is formed in the uterine mucous membrane. This uterine mucosa is called endometrium. Another word for cancer from the uterine mucosa is, therefore, endometrial carcinoma. At about 5 to 10% it is a cancer in the connective tissue or in the uterus muscle tissue. This is called uterine aroma.

The most common uterine cancer symptoms are abnormal vaginal bleeding, ranging from a watery and blood-streaked flow to a flow that contains more blood. Vaginal bleeding, during or after menopause, is often a sign of a problem. Most women who have uterine cancer are between the ages of 55 and 80. Ovarian cancer rarely occurs in women under 45 years of age.

Symptoms of uterine cancer

Symptoms that can occur in uterine cancer are:

• after the transition: unusual vaginal blood loss or bruising
• for the transition: irregular and excessive loss of blood between the periods by
• plaque or blood loss when peeing
• fatigue, thinning or abdominal pain. This is rare. Women, in particular, can suffer from this at a later stage. 

After the transition, you can still suffer from vaginal bleeding. Women sometimes think they are again ill. But have you been unwell for a year (or longer), such bleeding is not a regular period of time. In about 10%, uterine cancer causes this blood loss. Cervical cancer occurs, especially after the transition. Therefore, blood loss often causes the tumor to be detected at an early stage.

To the doctor

Unusual vaginal blood loss before or after the transition may also have other causes than uterine cancer. But there is always a reason to go to your GP.

Uterine cancer diagnosis and research

If you have symptoms that may affect uterine cancer, go to your GP. He will first investigate you physically. Sometimes he does a gynecological examination.

Does your GP think you might have uterine cancer? Then he will refer you to a gynecologist. This is a doctor specializing in diseases of the female genitals. The gynecologist examines you more extensively. You can get the following surveys:

• gynecological research
• transvaginal ultrasound
• curettage
• Sometimes: a hysteroscopy

Does the doctor find a malignant tumor? Then further research is needed. In doing so, he determines whether and, if so, the tumor has expanded and whether there are sows. This way he can determine which treatment is most appropriate. You can get the following surveys:

• long photo
• CT scan
• MRI
• sometimes:  ultrasound

Stage classification in uterine cancer

The doctor will prescribe you a treatment. For this he must know:

• from which type of cells the tumor is created
• how aggressive these cells are
• what the stage of the disease is

The stage indicates how much the disease has expanded in the body. The doctor sets the stage. He investigates for this:

• the place and size of the tumor
• or and how far the tumor has grown into the tissue around it
• whether there are sores in the lymph nodes and/or organs elsewhere in the body

With this stage classification, the doctor estimates the prospects and advises a treatment.

Uterine cancer stages

In uterine cancer there are 4 stages:

• Stage I: The tumor remains restricted to the uterus. After surgery, the pathologist looks under the microscope or the tumor from the mucosa layer has grown into the uterus muscle wall. The pathologist distinguishes between growth in the superficial or deeper part of the muscle layer.
• Stage II: The tumor has progressed into the cervix
• Stage III: The tumor has grown in the immediate vicinity of the uterus: 
• - stage IIIA: to the ovaries 
• - stage IIIB: to the vagina 
• - stage IIIC: to the lymph nodes in the pelvic area
• Stage IV: The tumor has grown or sown to other organs: 
• - stage IVA: there is growth in the bladder or rectum 
• - stage IVB: there are sowing elsewhere in the stomach or in other organs such as the lungs 

About 75% of women have a stage I in a diagnosis of uterine cancer.

For the carcinoma aroma, the same stage classification applies to uterine cancer.

Differentiation

Healthy (stem) cells can develop into different types of cells. This is called differentiation or outreach. By differentiation, a cell gets the features and functions that the cell needs. For example, cells rip into red blood cells, muscle cells or nerve cells.

Cancer cells appear to a greater or lesser extent on healthy cells. The differentiation rate of a tumor indicates how strongly the cancer cells differ from the healthy cells. This degree of differentiation says something about the speed of parts, and something about the behavior of the tumor and the prospects. Another word for differentiation is tumor degradation.

A pathologist determines the differentiation of the tumor. He does this by examining the cancer cells under the microscope.

Uterine cancer grade

Malignant tumors are usually classified into 3 grades:

• Grade I: The cancer cells are well differentiated. This means that the tumor cells to a large extent resemble healthy cells of the organ in which they originate. The cancer cells usually grow slowly. Grade I is also called low grade.
• Grade II: Cancer cells are moderately differentiated, They seem less and less healthy on healthy cells. The cancer cells usually grow faster than normal cells and stick together quickly. Grade II is also called intermediate.
• Grade III: The cancer cells are poorly differentiated. They almost do not resemble healthy tissue. These cancer cells almost always grow much faster than normal cells. Grade III is also high grade.

There is also a Grade IV: these are undifferentiated cells. These are no longer in the healthy cells.

Some types of cancers use a different format to indicate tumor differentiation. Doctors use the rating for the choice of treatment.

Treatment of uterine cancer

In uterine cancer, you will almost always get an operation. Then one of the following treatments can be followed:

• irradiation: internal and / or external
• hormonal therapy
• chemotherapy 
• Sometimes you get a combination of these treatments. 

It depends on the stage of the disease or additional post-operative treatment is required:

• Half of the patients receive no additional treatment after surgery
• Low-level women, but at risk of recurrence of the disease, may receive internal radiation
• Women with a higher stage or aggressive type of tumor may sometimes receive external radiation in combination with internal radiation and/or chemotherapy

*Image source : Mayo Clinic

References :

1. National Cancer Institute
2. Mayo Clinic
3. American Cancer Society