Making the Decision to Have Chemotherapy for Endometrial Cancer

Chemotherapy is not commonly used to treat endometrial cancer, but may be used if the cancer has spread beyond the uterus. Your doctor may suggest it to treat you in one of these cases:

• To add to your treatment with radiation

• To add to your treatment with hormone therapy

• After you?ve had surgery for endometrial cancer, chemotherapy can help make sure that all the cancer cells have been killed

In most cases, a combination of two or more chemotherapy medication is used. These medications are often used to treat endometrial cancer:

• Adriamycin (doxorubicin hydrochloride)

• Platinol (cisplatin)

• Taxol (paclitaxel)

• Paraplatin (carboplatin)

If you have advanced endometrial cancer, meaning the cancer has spread far from your uterus, your doctor may suggest you join a clinical trial. New medications or new combinations of older medications may help you. Talk with your health care team about these options.