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Table of Contents What is prevention?
General Information About Endometrial Cancer
Endometrial Cancer Prevention
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Changes to This Summary (11/13/2008)
Questions or Comments About This Summary
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What is prevention?
Cancer prevention is action taken to lower the chance of getting
cancer. By preventing cancer, the number of new cases of cancer
in a group or population is lowered. Hopefully, this will lower
the number of deaths caused by cancer.
To prevent new cancers from starting, scientists look at risk
factors and protective factors. Anything that increases your
chance of developing cancer is called a cancer risk factor;
anything that decreases your chance of developing cancer is
called a cancer protective factor.
Some risk factors for cancer can be avoided, but many cannot.
For example, both smoking and inheriting certain genes are
risk factors for some types of cancer, but only smoking can be
avoided. Regular exercise and a healthy diet may be protective
factors for some types of cancer. Avoiding risk factors and
increasing protective factors may lower your risk but it does
not mean that you will not get cancer.
Different ways to prevent cancer are being studied, including:
- Changing lifestyle or eating habits.
- Avoiding things known to cause cancer.
- Taking medicines to treat a precancerous condition or to
keep cancer from starting.
Back to Top General Information About Endometrial Cancer
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Endometrial cancer is a disease in which malignant (cancer)
cells form in the tissues of the endometrium.
The endometrium is the
lining of the uterus. The uterus is part of the female reproductive system. It is
a hollow, pear-shaped, muscular organ in the pelvis, where a fetus grows.
Cancer of the endometrium
is different from cancer of the muscle of the uterus, which is called sarcoma of the uterus. See the PDQ summary on Uterine Sarcoma Treatment for more information.
Endometrial cancer is the most common invasive cancer of the
female reproductive system.
Endometrial cancer usually occurs in women after menopause, and affects more white women than black women. Black women diagnosed with endometrial cancer are more likely to have more advanced disease at diagnosis, and are more likely to die from endometrial cancer than white women.
Back to Top Endometrial Cancer Prevention
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Avoiding risk factors and increasing protective factors may
help prevent cancer.
Avoiding cancer risk factors such as smoking, being overweight, and lack of exercise may help prevent certain cancers. Increasing protective factors such as quitting smoking, eating a healthy diet, and exercising may also help prevent some cancers. Talk to your doctor or other health care professional about how you might lower your risk of cancer.
The following risk factors may increase the risk of endometrial cancer:
Estrogen
Estrogen is a hormone made by the body. It helps the body develop and maintain female sex characteristics. Estrogen can affect the growth
of some cancers, including endometrial cancer. A woman's risk of developing
endometrial cancer is increased by being exposed to estrogen in the following ways:
- Estrogen-only hormone replacement therapy: Estrogen may be given to replace the estrogen no longer produced by the ovaries in postmenopausal women or women whose ovaries have been removed. This is called hormone replacement therapy (HRT), or hormone therapy (HT). The use of hormone replacement
therapy that contains only estrogen increases the risk
of endometrial cancer. For this reason, estrogen therapy alone is usually prescribed only for women who do not have a uterus.
When estrogen is combined with progestin (another hormone), it is called combination estrogen-progestin replacement therapy. For postmenopausal women, taking estrogen in combination with progestin does not increase the risk of endometrial cancer.
- Early menstruation: Beginning to have menstrual periods at an early age
increases the number of years the body is exposed to estrogen and increases a
woman's risk of endometrial cancer.
- Late menopause: Women who reach menopause at an older age
are exposed to estrogen for a longer time and have an increased
risk of endometrial cancer.
- Never being pregnant: Because estrogen levels are lower during pregnancy, women who have never been pregnant are exposed to estrogen for a longer time than women who have been pregnant. This increases the risk of endometrial cancer.
Tamoxifen
Tamoxifen is one of a group of drugs called selective estrogen receptor modulators, or
SERMs. Tamoxifen acts like estrogen on some tissues in the body, such as the uterus, but blocks the effects of estrogen on other tissues, such as the breast. When tamoxifen is used to prevent breast cancer in women who are at high risk for the disease, it increases the risk of
endometrial cancer. This risk is greater in postmenopausal women.
Raloxifene is a SERM that is used to prevent bone weakness in postmenopausal women. It does not have estrogen-like effects on the uterus and has not been shown to increase the risk of endometrial cancer. Other SERMs are being studied in clinical trials.
Inherited risk
Hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer (HNPCC) syndrome is an inherited disorder caused by changes in certain genes. Women who have HNPCC
syndrome have a much higher risk of developing endometrial cancer than women who do not have HNPCC syndrome.
Polycystic ovary syndrome
Women who have polycystic ovary syndrome (a disorder of the hormones made by the ovaries) have an increased risk of endometrial cancer.
Body fat
Obesity increases the risk of
endometrial cancer. This may be because obesity is related to other risk factors such as estrogen levels, polycystic ovary syndrome, lack of physical activity, and a diet that is high in saturated fats.
It is not known if losing weight decreases the risk of endometrial cancer.
The following protective factors may decrease the risk of endometrial cancer:
Combination oral contraceptives
Taking
contraceptives that combine estrogen and
progestin (combination oral contraceptives) decreases the risk of endometrial cancer. The protective effect of combination oral contraceptives increases
with the length of time they are used, and can last for many years after oral contraceptive use has been stopped.
Physical activity
Physical activity may lower the risk of
endometrial cancer.
Pregnancy and breast-feeding
Estrogen levels are lower
during pregnancy and when breast-feeding. Being pregnant and/or breast-feeding may lower the risk of endometrial cancer.
Diet
A diet low in saturated fats and high in fruits and vegetables
may lower the risk of endometrial cancer. The risk may also be lowered when soy -based foods are a regular part of the diet.
Cancer prevention clinical trials are used to study ways to prevent cancer.
Cancer prevention clinical trials are used to study ways to
lower the risk of developing certain types of cancer. Some
cancer prevention trials are conducted with healthy people who
have not had cancer but who have an increased risk for cancer.
Other prevention trials are conducted with people who have had
cancer and are trying to prevent another cancer of the same type
or to lower their chance of developing a new type of cancer.
Other trials are done with healthy volunteers who are not known
to have any risk factors for cancer.
The purpose of some cancer prevention clinical trials is to
find out whether actions people take can prevent cancer. These
may include eating fruits and vegetables, exercising, quitting smoking, or taking
certain medicines, vitamins, minerals, or food supplements.
New ways to prevent endometrial cancer are being studied in clinical
trials.
Clinical trials are taking place in many parts of the country.
Information about clinical trials can be found in the Clinical
Trials section of the NCI Web
site.
Check NCI's PDQ Cancer Clinical Trials Registry for endometrial cancer prevention trials that are now accepting patients.
Back to Top Get More Information From NCI
Call 1-800-4-CANCER
For more information, U.S. residents may call the National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) Cancer Information Service toll-free at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237) Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Deaf and hard-of-hearing callers with TTY equipment may call 1-800-332-8615. The call is free and a trained Cancer Information Specialist is available to answer your questions.
Chat online
The NCI's LiveHelp® online chat service provides Internet users with the ability to chat online with an Information Specialist. The service is available from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday. Information Specialists can help Internet users find information on NCI Web sites and answer questions about cancer.
Write to us
For more information from the NCI, please write to this address:
- NCI Public Inquiries Office
- Suite 3036A
- 6116 Executive Boulevard, MSC8322
- Bethesda, MD 20892-8322
Search the NCI Web site
The NCI Web site provides online access to information on cancer, clinical trials, and other Web sites and organizations that offer support and resources for cancer patients and their families. For a quick search, use our “Best Bets” search box in the upper right hand corner of each Web page. The results that are most closely related to your search term will be listed as Best Bets at the top of the list of search results.
There are also many other places to get materials and information about cancer treatment and services. Hospitals in your area may have information about local and regional agencies that have information on finances, getting to and from treatment, receiving care at home, and dealing with problems related to cancer treatment.
Find Publications
The NCI has booklets and other materials for patients, health professionals, and the public. These publications discuss types of cancer, methods of cancer treatment, coping with cancer, and clinical trials. Some publications provide information on tests for cancer, cancer causes and prevention, cancer statistics, and NCI research activities. NCI materials on these and other topics may be ordered online or printed directly from the NCI Publications Locator. These materials can also be ordered by telephone from the Cancer Information Service toll-free at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237), TTY at 1-800-332-8615.
Back to Top Changes to This Summary (11/13/2008)
The PDQ cancer information summaries are reviewed regularly and updated as new information becomes available. This section describes the latest changes made to this summary as of the date above.
Editorial changes were made to this summary.
Back to Top Questions or Comments About This Summary
If you have questions or comments about this summary, please send them to Cancer.gov through the Web site’s Contact Form. We can respond only to email messages written in English.
Back to Top About PDQ
PDQ is a comprehensive cancer database available on NCI's Web site.
PDQ is the National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) comprehensive cancer information database. Most of the information contained in PDQ is available online at NCI's Web site. PDQ is provided as a service of the NCI. The NCI is part of the National Institutes of Health, the federal government's focal point for biomedical research.
PDQ contains cancer information summaries.
The PDQ database contains summaries of the latest published information on cancer prevention, detection, genetics, treatment, supportive care, and complementary and alternative medicine. Most summaries are available in two versions. The health professional versions provide detailed information written in technical language. The patient versions are written in easy-to-understand, nontechnical language. Both versions provide current and accurate cancer information.
The PDQ cancer information summaries are developed by cancer experts and reviewed regularly.
Editorial Boards made up of experts in oncology and related specialties are responsible for writing and maintaining the cancer information summaries. The summaries are reviewed regularly and changes are made as new information becomes available. The date on each summary ("Date Last Modified") indicates the time of the most recent change.
PDQ also contains information on clinical trials.
A clinical trial is a study to answer a scientific question, such as whether a certain drug or nutrient can prevent cancer. Trials are based on past studies and what has been learned in the laboratory. Each trial answers certain scientific questions in order to find new and better ways to help cancer patients and those who are at risk for cancer. During prevention clinical trials, information is collected about the effects of a new prevention method and how well it works. If a clinical trial shows that a new method is better than one currently being used, the new method may become "standard." People who are at high risk for a certain type of cancer may want to think about taking part in a clinical trial.
Listings of clinical trials are included in PDQ and are available online at NCI's Web site. Descriptions of the trials are available in health professional and patient versions. Many cancer doctors who take part in clinical trials are also listed in PDQ. For more information, call the Cancer Information Service 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237); TTY at 1-800-332-8615.
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