New Questions About Treatment-Related Risks for Endometrial Cancer

The take-home message of studies on adjuvant radiation therapy for early-stage endometrial cancer: The modality can lower the incidence of local recurrence, but it also boosts treatment-related morbidity, and doesn't improve overall survival. A recent meta-analysis reiterates that conclusion. Yet this review, as comprehensive as it is, is not the final word, according to an expert at Houston's M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, who argues for a closer and different look at the data on adjuvant pelvic radiation therapy for early-stage disease.  

RESULT: The Role of Adjuvant Radiation Therapy for Stage I Endometrial Cancer: Does Meta-Analysis Reveal the Answer?
Journal of the National Cancer Institute | Oct 26, 2012 (Free abstract. Full text $32)


RESULT: Adjuvant Radiotherapy for Stage I Endometrial Cancer: An Updated Cochrane Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Journal of the National Cancer Institute | Oct 26, 2012 (Free abstract. Full text $32)


Tamoxifen treatment for breast cancer carries an increased risk of endometrial cancer. U.K. investigators assessed whether tamoxifen(Drug information on tamoxifen) therapy led to a higher death rate among breast cancer patients subsequently diagnosed with endometrial cancer. The good news is that, overall, they observed no link between tamoxifen treatment and endometrial cancer mortality. However, the story was less favorable in women who had used tamoxifen for at least five years.

RESULT:Endometrial cancer survival after breast cancer in relation to tamoxifen treatment: Pooled results from three countries
Breast Cancer Research | Jun 12, 2012 (FREE FULL TEXT)