Endometrial carcinoma: New Developments and Digital Offers

With around 11,000 new cases each year, endo­me­tri­al can­cer (endo­me­tri­al car­ci­no­ma or ute­ri­ne body can­cer) is one of the most com­mon can­cers in women in Ger­ma­ny. The inci­dence increa­ses with incre­asing risk fac­tors (abo­ve all obe­si­ty). Due to the initi­al sym­ptoms of the blee­ding dis­or­der in the pre­me­no­pau­se or post­me­no­pau­sal blee­ding, endo­me­tri­al car­ci­no­ma is main­ly dia­gno­sed in the ear­ly stages by hys­tero­sco­py with frac­tion­a­ted abrasion.

About the Illness

Due to the rela­tively ear­ly dia­gno­sis com­pared to other tumors, the pro­gno­sis and sur­vi­val are usual­ly good. It is the­r­e­fo­re all the more important that the can­cer is trea­ted com­pre­hen­si­ve­ly and tho­rough­ly. Due to our clo­se inter­di­sci­pli­na­ry exch­an­ge and our high sci­en­ti­fic com­pe­tence, we can offer you the most modern and mul­ti­mo­dal tre­at­ment con­cepts for endo­me­tri­al can­cer at the Charité.

Emergence and Causes

The deve­lo­p­ment of endo­me­tri­al can­cer is only par­ti­al­ly unders­tood to date. In prin­ci­ple, can­cer deve­lo­ps as a result of chan­ges in the gene­tic mate­ri­al in the cells of the lining of the ute­rus. If cells divi­de often, mista­kes in the gene­tic infor­ma­ti­on occur more and more by chan­ce. The lining of the womb (endo­me­tri­um), like any lining in the body, is a type that divi­des fre­quent­ly. If such errors accu­mu­la­te in the gene­tic infor­ma­ti­on of the cells, the cells lose their nor­mal func­tion and uncon­trol­led cell growth occurs — can­cer. For exam­p­le, mali­gnant growths (tumors) can grow from benign pre­cur­sors or polyps. A gene­tic pre­dis­po­si­ti­on can also favor this process.

Early Detection

Pre­ven­ti­on is actual­ly the best after­ca­re. Unfort­u­na­te­ly, the­re are still no estab­lished pre­ven­ti­ve exami­na­ti­ons to detect endo­me­tri­al can­cer even ear­lier. Scree­ning methods such as mam­mo­gra­phy for breast can­cer or the Pap smear (Papa­ni­co­laou test) for cer­vical can­cer have not been sci­en­ti­fi­cal­ly pro­ven for endo­me­tri­al can­cer. The­r­e­fo­re, a pre­cau­tio­na­ry ultra­sound of the inter­nal geni­tal organs is not recom­men­ded in prin­ci­ple. Like­wi­se, the­re are no tumor mar­kers in the blood that can pre­dict can­cer or moni­tor its pro­gress. The­r­e­fo­re, abnor­mal vagi­nal blee­ding, for exam­p­le, eit­her bet­ween mens­tru­al peri­ods or after meno­pau­se, must always be cla­ri­fied in a stan­dar­di­zed manner.

The gold stan­dard for dia­gno­sing endo­me­tri­al can­cer is sur­gi­cal hys­tero­sco­py and scra­ping of the ute­rus (frac­tion­al abra­si­on). This is used to obtain tumor cells, which can be view­ed under the micro­scope and clas­si­fied in more detail. The results of this exami­na­ti­on are part­ly decisi­ve for the­ra­py and the­r­e­fo­re requi­re the exper­ti­se of expe­ri­en­ced pathologists.

Therapy

The the­ra­py of endo­me­tri­al can­cer (endo­me­tri­al car­ci­no­ma) must be deci­ded indi­vi­du­al­ly depen­ding on the stage of spread, invol­vement of lymph nodes and his­to­lo­gy. In prin­ci­ple, it is made up of three dif­fe­rent pil­lars: sur­gery, che­mo­the­ra­py and radia­ti­on the­ra­py. The opti­mal the­ra­py is mul­ti­fac­to­ri­al and is deri­ved from all exami­na­ti­on results (inclu­ding his­to­lo­gi­cal exami­na­ti­on of the scra­ping and ima­ging), the dise­a­se sta­tus of the woman con­cer­ned and the wis­hes of the patient.

Offers at the Charité women’s clinic

At the Cli­nic for Gyneco­lo­gy, we are com­mit­ted to under­stan­ding the woman and her ill­ness as a who­le. Due to our clo­se coope­ra­ti­on with col­le­agues in phy­sio­the­ra­py, social ser­vices, nut­ri­tio­nal advice, pal­lia­ti­ve medi­ci­ne and psycho-onco­lo­gy, we can pro­vi­de you with com­pre­hen­si­ve advice and sup­port on living with a can­cer dia­gno­sis. From years of coope­ra­ti­on, we have been able to gather a wealth of expe­ri­ence and have been able to opti­mi­ze our pro­ces­ses in deal­ing with can­cer pati­ents. We look for­ward to wel­co­ming you to our cli­nic soon. In line with the mot­to of the Cha­ri­té: Tog­e­ther we make a whole.

The­re is also a digi­tal offer for all affec­ted pati­ents in Ger­man-spea­king count­ries. At https://endometriumkarzinom-app.de/

Sources

S3-Leit­li­nie Dia­gnos­tik, The­ra­pie und Nach­sor­ge der Pati­en­tin­nen mit Endo­me­tri­um­kar­zi­nom
Link: https://www.leitlinienprogramm-onkologie.de/leitlinien/endometriumkarzinom/

Inter­na­tio­nal gui­de­lines:
ESGO/ESTRO/ESP gui­de­lines for the manage­ment of pati­ents with endo­me­tri­al car­ci­no­ma.
Link: https://ijgc.bmj.com/content/ijgc/31/1/12.full.pdf

Endo­me­tri­al car­ci­no­ma app of the Cha­ri­té women’s cli­nic.
Link: https://endometriumkarzinom-app.de/