Does hormone therapy treat womb cancer?

Womb cancer, also called endometrial cancer, begins in the lining of the womb. Testing the tumour helps the team understand its type, grade, hormone receptors, and extent. Hormone medicines can act on hormone-sensitive cells by supplying a hormone signal that slows growth or by changing the body's hormone environment.

This approach may be considered for cancer that has returned or spread, for a cancer with suitable features, or when surgery and other treatments are not appropriate. The plan is individual: hormone therapy may be used alone or with another cancer treatment.

Ask the gynaecological oncology team whether the biopsy or surgical sample was tested for hormone receptors and how that result affects treatment choices. Discuss the medicine, monitoring, interactions, fertility or pregnancy considerations, and symptoms that should be reported. Keep appointments for examinations and any scans the team recommends.

Arrange medical review for bleeding after menopause, bleeding between periods, watery or unusual discharge, or new pelvic pain. During treatment, seek urgent help for heavy bleeding, severe abdominal pain, chest pain, sudden breathlessness, or painful one-sided leg swelling.

Is my womb cancer hormone-sensitive? What is the aim of hormone therapy in my case? How will we know whether it is helping? Which symptoms require an urgent call?