There are a number of different ways to treat endometrial cancer.
Your doctors will yarn with you about what treatments they recommend and what your options are best for you.
Most women have surgery. Some have radiotherapy, chemotherapy or hormone therapy as well. You might need one of these, or a combination of them.
Yarn with your doctor, nurse or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker about which treatment you might have. You can also yarn about if you want to include any traditional healing, bush medicine or cultural practices in your treatment plan.
Surgery
Surgery is a procedure done in hospital to remove the cancer and help to stop it from spreading to other parts of your body. This involves staying in hospital, having an anaesthetic (so that you are asleep during the operation) and an operation.
Some women may have their womb removed, and some have their cervix, fallopian tubes and ovaries removed too. Some women have their lymph nodes taken out as well.
Sometimes the surgery is done through a cut in your belly. Sometimes it can be done as keyhole surgery.
Surgery for endometrial cancer may affect your fertility (having children). Yarn with your doctor, nurse or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker if you have questions about this and the assistance available to patients and their family for travel and accommodation if you need to travel away from home for surgery.
Read more about surgery. and fertility-sparing options.
Radiotherapy
Radiotherapy (or radiation therapy) uses X-rays to destroy cancer cells in one part of your body.
External therapy:
You might have radiation therapy to your pelvic area to treat endometrial cancer. Most women who have radiotherapy have it 5 days a week for 4-6 weeks, and each session takes an hour or so. But it might be different for you.
Internal therapy, also called brachytherapy:
You might also receive radiotherapy by putting the radiation directly into your body. This is called brachytherapy. This involves giving radiation via a needle or another device into the vagina. The device stays in place from a few minutes to a few days. Depending on the treatment and the dose of radiation you receive, you might need to stay in hospital or make a daily visit for treatment.
You can only have radiotherapy in cities and some big towns – see this list. If your doctor thinks you need radiotherapy and you don’t live near a radiotherapy site, assistance is available for travel and accommodation for you and your family.
Yarn with your doctor, nurse or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker.
Read more about radiotherapy.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy or “chemo” involves you taking strong drugs to kill the cancer cells.
Many people have chemo in cycles – such as one day every three weeks, or once a week. You may also be recommended to have chemo at the same time as radiotherapy, and this will be given once every 3 weeks. Some people have chemotherapy tablets at home, but most need to go to a hospital or clinic to get the treatment. But you usually don’t need to stay in hospital for chemo.
Most chemo comes as injections into your arm or hand that drip in over a few hours and some need you to take home a small bottle home for two days then come back to take it off again. If you’re having chemo, your doctor will tell you exactly how it will work for you.
Chemo can make people feel sick for a while, but there are things they can do to help. Yarn with your doctor, nurse or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker. Mob who had have chemo say that being on Country, doing Women’s Business and Men’s Business as well as ceremony and bush medicines are a good help during treatment.
Read more about chemotherapy and side effects.
Hormone therapy
Some types of cancer of the womb depend on the hormones in your body. If you have this type of cancer, then your doctor might suggest drugs to affect your body’s hormones. It can slow, and maybe stop, the growth of the cancer.
Hormone therapy usually means that you take tablets every day for months or years. Yarn with your doctor, nurse or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker.
Read more about hormone therapy.
Effect on fertility
If you haven’t had menopause, some of these treatments might affect your ability to have kids. It might be possible for you to have a type of treatment that still makes it possible for you to have kids. Yarn with your doctor, nurse or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker about this.
Read more about the effects of cancer treatment on fertility and fertility-sparing options.