Treatments

Endometrial Cancer Treatments

Northwestern Medicine specialists will work with you and your primary care physician to customize a treatment plan that best suits your needs. You may receive a single treatment or a combination of treatments. Treatment options for endometrial cancer include:

• Surgery: The most common treatment for endometrial cancer is surgery to remove the uterus and the cervix. This surgery is known as a hysterectomy. The ovaries and fallopian tubes are also usually removed also. If the cancer has spread from the uterus to nearby tissues, part of the vagina and/or lymph nodes may also be removed.
• Radiation therapy: This treatment kills cancer cells with high-energy X-rays. Radiation may be used after surgery to kill any cancer cells that may have been missed. 
  
• Chemotherapy: This treatment uses one or more medicines to kill cancer cells or shrink tumors. They work by attacking rapidly growing cells.
• Hormone therapy: Medicines can be used to keep hormones from being made or stop their ability to help cancer cells grow. Hormone therapy may be used to treat women who cannot have surgery or radiation, or women whose endometrial cancer has spread to other parts of the body.
• Immunotherapy: This treatment uses medicines that boost your body’s immune system to help it fight the cancer. Immunotherapy may be combined with chemotherapy for women who have more advanced stages of endometrial cancer.

Leading-edge treatment may also be available through clinical trials. Talk with your physician about clinical trials that may be an option for you.