[Recent progress in cancer therapy in gynecology--endometrial cancer]

The relative incidence of endometrial carcinoma is obviously increasing as a disease of post-menopausal women with the ageing of the population in Japan. Growth of malignant endometrium tends to develop there both into the muscle and into the cavity. However, diagnosis in most cases is made by stage 1a (39.7%) and 1 b (19.0%) in FIGO classification. In the treatment of endometrial carcinoma, even after a simple hysterectomy in 89.2% of total cases 5-year cure rate may be reached to 80%, which has compared well with the 60% cure rate for cervical cancer. Some fractions of endometrial adenocarcinoma are estrogen-dependent and could therefore respond to antagonistic influences of progestogens. In a recent understanding, above theoretical grounds for hormone dependency and responsiveness of endometrial malignant lesions has been substantiated by data provided by steroid receptor determination. The high estrogen and progesterone receptor concentrations found in 70% of endometrial adenocarcinoma support the principle that endometrial adenocarcinoma is related to abnormal estrogenic stimulation. Those cancer are used as a model for in vitro and clinical evaluation of progestogen therapy.