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Polyps can be surgically removed using curettage with or without hysteroscopy. When curettage is performed without hysteroscopy, polyps may be missed. To reduce this risk, the uterus can be first explored using grasping forceps at the beginning of the curettage procedure. Hysteroscopy involves visualising the endometrium (inner lining of the uterus) and polyp with a camera inserted through the cervix. If it is a large polyp, it can be cut into sections before each section is removed. If cancerous cells are discovered, a hysterectomy (surgical removal of the uterus) may be performed. A hysterectomy would usually not be considered if cancer has been ruled out. Whichever method is used, polyps are usually treated under general anesthetic.
It is unclear if removing polyps affects fertility as it has not been studied.
The primary treatment is surgical. FIGO-cancer staging is done at the time of surgery which consists of peritoneal cytology, total hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, pelvic/para-aortic lymphadenectomy, and omentectomy. The tumor is aggressive and spreads quickly into the myometrium and the lymphatic system. Thus even in presumed early stages, lymphadenectomy and omentectomy should be included in the surgical approach. If the tumor has spread surgery is cytoreductive followed by radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy.
In a study to determine if adjuvant therapy should be used in patients with stage I UPSC who had undergone surgery, no increased survival was seen when radiation therapy was added versus observation, while the postsurgical treatment with chemotherapy may be beneficial but more data are needed.
A study of the usefulness of platinum-based chemotherapy as an adjuvant after surgery of stage I patients showed that patients with stage 1A who had no residual disease in the hysterectomy specimen had no recurrence regardless if chemotherapy was used or not, however, patients with stage 1A disease with residual disease in the hysterectomy specimen had no recurrence with platinum-based therapy, but those who had no such chemotherapy showed recurrence in 43%. Similarly, patients with stage 1B disease with chemotherapy had no recurrence, while those without chemotherapy had a high degree (77%) of recurrence.
Most fibroadenomas are simply monitored. Some are treated by surgical excision. They are removed with a small margin of normal breast tissue if the preoperative clinical investigations are suggestive of the necessity of this procedure. A small amount of normal tissue must be removed in case the lesion turns out to be a phyllodes tumour on microscopic examination.
Because needle biopsy is often a reliable diagnostic investigation, some doctors may decide not to operate to remove the lesion, and instead opt for clinical follow-up to observe the lesion over time using clinical examination and mammography to determine the rate of growth, if any, of the lesion. A growth rate of less than sixteen percent per month in women under fifty years of age, and a growth rate of less than thirteen percent per month in women over fifty years of age have been published as safe growth rates for continued non-operative treatment and clinical observation.
Some fibroadenomas respond to treatment with ormeloxifene.
Fibroadenomas have not been shown to recur following complete excision or transform into phyllodes tumours following partial or incomplete excision.
If ovarian cancer recurs, it is considered partially platinum-sensitive or platinum-resistant, based on the time since the last recurrence treated with platins: partially platinum-sensitive cancers recurred 6–12 months after last treatment, and platinum-resistant cancers have an interval of less than 6 months. Second-line chemotherapy can be given after the cancer becomes symptomatic, because no difference in survival is seen between treating asymptomatic (elevated CA-125) and symptomatic recurrences.
For platinum-sensitive tumors, platins are the drugs of choice for second-line chemotherapy, in combination with other cytotoxic agents. Regimens include carboplatin combined with pegylated liposomal doxorubicin, gemcitabine, or paclitaxel. Carboplatin-doublet therapy can be combined with paclitaxel for increased efficacy in some cases. Another potential adjuvant therapy for platinum-sensitive recurrences is olaparib, which may improve progression-free survival but has not been shown to improve overall survival. (Olaparib, a PARP inhibitor, was approved by the US FDA for use in BRCA-associated ovarian cancer that had previously been treated with chemotherapy.) For recurrent germ cell tumors, an additional 4 cycles of BEP chemotherapy is the first-line treatment for those tho have been treated with surgery or platins.
If the tumor is determined to be platinum-resistant, vincristine, dactinomycin, and cyclophosphamide (VAC) or some combination of paclitaxel, gemcitabine, and oxaliplatin may be used as a second-line therapy.
For platinum-resistant tumors, there are no high-efficacy chemotherapy options. Single-drug regimens (doxorubicin or topotecan) do not have high response rates, but single-drug regimens of topotecan, pegylated liposomal doxorubicin, or gemcitabine are used in some cases. Topotecan cannot be used in people with an intestinal blockage. Paclitaxel used alone is another possible regimen, or it may be combined with liposomal doxorubicin, gemcitabine, cisplatin, topotecan, etoposide, or cyclophosphamide. ( See also Palliative care below.)
There are a number of possible additional therapies. Surgery can be followed by radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy in cases of high-risk or high-grade cancers. This is called adjuvant therapy.
Therapy is based on staging and patient condition and utilizes one or more of the following approaches.
Surgery is the mainstay of therapy if feasible involving total abdominal hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. Other approaches include radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and hormonal therapy.
Prognosis is relatively poor.
Adjuvant chemotherapy is a recent innovation, consisting of some combination of paclitaxel (or other taxanes like docetaxel), doxorubicin (and other anthracyclines), and platins (particularly cisplatin and carboplatin). Adjuvant chemotherapy has been found to increase survival in stage III and IV cancer more than added radiotherapy. Mutations in mismatch repair genes, like those found in Lynch syndrome, can lead to resistance against platins, meaning that chemotherapy with platins is ineffective in people with these mutations. Side effects of chemotherapy are common. These include hair loss, low neutrophil levels in the blood, and gastrointestinal problems.
In cases where surgery is not indicated, palliative chemotherapy is an option; higher-dose chemotherapy is associated with longer survival. Palliative chemotherapy, particularly using capecitabine and gemcitabine, is also often used to treat recurrent endometrial cancer.
Dysgerminomas are most effectively treated with radiation, though this can cause infertility and is being phased out in favor of chemotherapy. Radiation therapy does not improve survival in people with well-differentiated tumors.
In stage 1c and 2 cancers, radiation therapy is used after surgery if there is the possibility of residual disease in the pelvis but the abdomen is cancer-free. Radiotherapy can also be used in palliative care of advanced cancers. A typical course of radiotherapy for ovarian cancer is 5 days a week for 3–4 weeks. Common side effects of radiotherapy include diarrhea, constipation, and frequent urination.
Treatment of endometrial hyperplasia is individualized, and may include hormonal therapy, such as cyclic or continuous progestin therapy, or hysterectomy.
The common treatment for phyllodes is wide local excision. Other than surgery, there is no cure for phyllodes, as chemotherapy and radiation therapy are not effective. The risk of developing local recurrence or metastases is related to the histologic grade, according to the above-named features. Despite wide excision, a very high percentage of surgeries yielded incomplete excision margins that required revision surgery. Radiation treatment after breast-conserving surgery with negative margins may significantly reduce the
local recurrence rate for borderline and malignant tumors. The authors of a 2012 study have derived a risk calculator for relapse risk of phyllodes tumors after surgery.
In a recent study, about 60% of USCs were found to overexpress the protein HER2/neu—the same one that is overexpressed in some breast cancers. The monoclonal antibody trastuzumab (Herceptin) is currently being tested as a therapy for this subset of USCs.
The antibody trastuzumab (Herceptin), which is used to treat breast cancers that overexpress the HER2/neu protein, has been tried with some success in a phase II trial in women with UPSCs that overexpress HER2/neu.
Laparoscopic surgical approaches include of ovarian adhesions and of endometriomas. Endometriomas frequently require surgical removal and excision is considered to be superior in terms of permanent removal of the disease and pain relief. Surgery can sometimes have the effect of improving fertility but can have the adverse effect of leading to increases in cycle day 2 or 3 FSH for many patients.
Laser surgery and cauterization are considered to be far less effective and only burn the top layer of endometrial tissue, allowing for the endometrioma and endometriosis to grow back quickly. Likewise, endometrioma drainage or sclerotherapy are somewhat controversial technique for removing endometriomas with varied degrees of success. Conservative surgery can be performed to preserve fertility in younger patients but as earlier stated can have the effect of raising FSH values and making the ovaries less productive, especially if functional ovarian tissue is removed in the surgical process.
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are frequently used first in patients with pelvic pain, particularly if the diagnosis of endometriosis has not been definitively (excision and biopsy) established. The goal of directed medical treatment is to achieve an anovulatory state. Typically, this is achieved initially using hormonal contraception. This can also be accomplished with progestational agents (i.e., medroxyprogesterone acetate), danazol, gestrinone, or gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists (GnRH), as well as other less well-known agents. These agents are generally used if oral contraceptives and NSAIDs are ineffective. GnRH can be combined with estrogen and progestogen (add-back therapy) without loss of efficacy but with fewer hypoestrogenic symptoms. These medications are often ineffective in treating endometriomas and any relief is short lived while taking the medications. Hormonal treatment has a large number of sometimes permanent side effects, such as hot flushes, loss of bone mass, deepening of voice, weight gain, and facial hair growth.
Prognosis of the CC is affected by age, stage, and histology as well as treatment
The primary treatment is surgical. FIGO-cancer staging is done at the time of surgery which consists of peritoneal cytology, total hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, pelvic/para-aortic lymphadenectomy, and omentectomy. The tumor is aggressive and spreads quickly into the myometrium and the lymphatic system. Thus even in presumed early stages, lymphadenectomy and omentectomy should be included in the surgical approach. If the tumor has spread surgery is cytoreductive followed by radiation therapy and/or chemotherapy.
The five years survival was reported to be 68%.
The FDA has approved cryoablation of a fibroadenoma as a safe, effective and minimally-invasive alternative to open surgical removal in 2001. In the procedure, ultrasound imaging is used to guide a probe into the mass of breast tissue. Extremely cold temperatures are then used to destroy the abnormal cells, and over time the cells are reabsorbed into the body. The procedure can be performed as an outpatient surgery using local anesthesia only, and leaves substantially less scarring than open surgical procedures and no breast tissue deformation.
The American Society of Breast Surgeons recommends the following criteria to establish a patient as a candidate for cryoablation of a fibroadenoma:
1. The lesion must be sonographically visible.
2. The diagnosis of a fibroadenoma must be confirmed histologically.
3. The lesion should be less than 4 cm in diameter.
For more general information, see ovarian cancer.
For advanced cancer of this histology, the US National Cancer Institute recommends a method of chemotherapy that combines intravenous (IV) and intraperitoneal (IP) administration. Preferred chemotherapeutic agents include a platinum drug with a taxane.
Endometrial polyps are usually benign although some may be precancerous or cancerous. About 0.5% of endometrial polyps contain adenocarcinoma cells. Polyps can increase the risk of miscarriage in women undergoing IVF treatment. If they develop near the fallopian tubes, they may lead to difficulty in becoming pregnant. Although treatments such as hysteroscopy usually cure the polyp concerned, recurrence of endometrial polyps is frequent. Untreated, small polyps may regress on their own.
Fertility subsequent to treatment of surface epithelial-stromal tumors depends mainly on histology and initial
staging to separate it into early borderline (or more benign) versus advanced stages of borderline (or more malignant). Conservative management (without bilateral oophorectomy) of early stage borderline tumors have been estimated to result in chance of over 50% of spontaneous pregnancy with a low risk of lethal recurrence of the tumor (0.5%). On the other hand, in cases of conservative treatment in advanced stage borderline tumors, spontaneous pregnancy rates have been estimated to be 35% and the risk of lethal recurrence 2%.
A retrospective study of 83 women with sex cord–stromal tumours (73 with granulosa cell tumour and 10 with Sertoli-Leydig cell tumour), all diagnosed between 1975 and 2003, reported that survival was higher with age under 50, smaller tumour size, and absence of residual disease. The study found no effect of chemotherapy. A retrospective study of 67 children and adolescents reported some benefit of cisplatin-based chemotherapy.
Clear diagnosis is useful to avoid unnecessary treatment and exclude more sinister diagnoses (for example, haemoptysis or pleural effusion could also indicate cancer). Overall treatment for pulmonary endometriosis is surgical, with subsegmentectomy. It is obviously important to preserve as much lung parenchyma as possible, while removing macroscopic signs of pathological tissue. Medical treatment includes gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues, which can cause cessation of menstruation and decreased libido, as well as a 50% recurrence rate. Even in the asymptomatic, treatment is recommended to prevent possible complications listed above.
Broadly speaking, surgical management of adenomyosis is split into two categories: uterine-sparing and non-uterine-sparing procedures. Uterine-sparing procedures are surgical operations that do not include surgical removal of the uterus. Some uterine-sparing procedures have the benefit of improving fertility or retaining the ability to carry a pregnancy to term. In contrast, some uterine-sparing procedures worsen fertility or even result in complete sterility. The impact of each procedure on a woman's fertility is of particular concern and typically guides the selection. Non-uterine-sparing procedures, by definition, include surgical removal of the uterus and consequently they will all result in complete sterility.
Uterine sarcoma are rare, out of all malignancies of the uterine body only about 4% will be uterine sarcomas. Generally, the cause of the lesion is not known, however patients with a history of pelvic radiation are at higher risk. Most tumors occur after menopause.
Women who take long-term tamoxifen are at higher risk.
Adenomyosis can only be cured definitively with surgical removal of the uterus. As adenomyosis is responsive to reproductive hormones, it reasonably abates following menopause when these hormones decrease. In women in their reproductive years, adenomyosis can typically be managed with the goals to provide pain relief, to restrict progression of the process, and to reduce significant menstrual bleeding.
The average age at time of EIN diagnosis is approximately 52 years, compared to approximately 61 years for carcinoma. The timeframe and likelihood of EIN progression to cancer, however, is not constant amongst all women. Some cases of EIN are first detected as residual premalignant disease in women who already have carcinoma, whereas other EIN lesions disappear entirely and never lead to cancer. For this reason, treatment benefits and risks must be individualized for each patient under the guidance of an experienced physician.
Risk factors for development of EIN and the endometrioid type of endometrial carcinoma include exposure to estrogens without opposing progestins, obesity, diabetes, and rare hereditary conditions such as hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer. Protective factors include use of combined oral contraceptive pills (low dose estrogen and progestin), and prior use of a contraceptive intrauterine device.
Treatment of Meigs' syndrome consists of thoracentesis and paracentesis to drain off the excess fluid (exudate), and unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy or wedge resection to correct the underlying cause.