Womb Cancer
About this PSP
Dr Emma Crosbie, PSP Lead, explains:
"Womb cancer is the 4th most common cancer affecting British women, behind breast, lung and colon cancer. The past 20 years have witnessed a 40% increase in the incidence and a 20% increase in the number of deaths from womb cancer, despite improvements in overall survival.
"In 2010, more than 1,900 British women died from womb cancer, compared with just 1,500 at the turn of the century.
"Despite these worrying statistics, womb cancer is relatively under-researched in the UK and internationally. Identifying the top priorities for womb cancer research is important in raising awareness and then finding funds to start tackling them. I am passionate about the idea of researching areas that patients and their clinicians deem important."
The initial survey for this PSP yielded 786 individual submissions from 413 survey respondents, of whom 211 were womb cancer survivors or carers.
This resulted in 209 unique unanswered research questions.
The Womb Cancer PSP Top 10 was published in September 2016.
Learn more about setting research priorities in womb cancer in this video
Impact of Top 10s
Further information
The top 10
Please click on each question for more detailed information:
- Is it possible to develop a personalised risk score which reflects a woman's individual risk of developing endometrial cancer?
- Which women with abnormal vaginal bleeding should be referred for specialist review?
- What are the most effective treatments currently available for advanced endometrial cancer and what key molecular pathways should be targeted when developing new treatments?
- Can we predict which women will benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy or radiotherapy and avoid ineffective treatments?
- Are blood tests, including markers like CA125, useful in predicting duration of survivorship and/or recurrent disease?
- What ways of raising public awareness about endometrial cancer are the most effective and cost-effective?
- What are the psychological issues surrounding diagnosis and treatment of endometrial cancer and what interventions might be helpful?
- What are the underlying causes of different types of endometrial cancer and how do they develop?
- Can we predict at the time of diagnosis which endometrial cancers and precancerous lesions will respond to hormone treatments?
- Do changes in lifestyle, including weight loss, reduce the risk of recurrent and improve survival in women who have been treated for endometrial cancer?
The following questions were also discussed and put in order of priority at the workshop:
- Does hormone replacement therapy (HRT) increase the risk of recurrence in young women who have had a surgical menopause as a result of their treatment?
- What is the most effective screening test for detecting women with womb cancer before they develop symptoms?
- How can we predict which precancerous changes to the womb lining will develop into a cancer and which will resolve without treatment?
- Does examination of lymph glands removed during surgery (i.e. lymphadenectomy/sentinel node biopsy) identify women who might benefit from chemo and/or radiotherapy?
- Can we detect womb cancer from a blood test alone?
- Can we develop tests to predict which women with early womb cancers are likely to do worst?
- Would a screening programme to detect womb cancer in women in the general population be effective?
- How do we reduce the impact of treatment on sexual function in women who have undergone treatment for womb cancer?
- What is the optimal length and setting for follow-up for women who have completed treatment?
- When should a woman with persistent abnormal bleeding have further investigation after a normal biopsy or hysteroscopy (camera test)?
- How effective is pelvic examination at detecting recurrences in women who have completed their treatment?
- How do levels of female hormones such as oestrogen and progesterone influence womb cancer development?
- What factors prevent women from reporting abnormal bleeding to their doctors?
- Does taking long term metformin after surgery reduce the risk of recurrence?
- What are the support and information needs of women who are referred with suspected womb cancer?
- Can young women with womb cancer choose to keep their ovaries to prevent themselves going into an early menopause without increasing their risk their cancer might return?
- Does pre-operative MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) predict women who have lymph node spread and who would benefit from chemo and/or radiotherapy?