Staging and current treatments for endometrial cancer

Patients with Stage I endometrial carcinoma need to be further subdivided into low or high risk for recurrence. Treatment consists of surgery, with or without pre- or postoperative radiation. The supposed advantages of preoperative radiation are questionable. Definitive treatment recommendations for Stage I can be made only for Stage IaG1, where surgery alone suffices. Stage II patients have a high survival (80-90%) if there is no spread beyond the uterus. Although doxorubicin is the most active chemotherapeutic agent, the response rate is low. Response to progesterone is high (30-40%), but complete responses of prolonged duration are few.