Symptoms of late metastasis of endometrial cancer

Endometrial cancer has no obvious symptoms in the early stages and is only discovered accidentally during gynecological examinations. Most endometrial cancers grow slowly and are confined to the endometrium or uterine cavity for a long time; some special pathological types of endometrial cancer, such as serous papillary adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, clear cell carcinoma and poorly differentiated carcinoma, can develop very quickly and metastasize in a short period of time. The characteristic of cancer cells is that they can metastasize and spread, so what should we do if endometrial cancer metastasizes?

Common metastatic pathways of endometrial cancer include lymphatic metastasis: lymphatic metastasis is the main metastatic pathway of endometrial cancer. When the tumor infiltrates into the deep muscle layer or spreads to the cervical canal, or when the cancer tissue is poorly differentiated, lymphatic metastasis is likely to occur. The lymphatic metastasis pathways of cancer lesions in the lower uterine segment and cervical canal are the same as those of cervical cancer, which can spread to the parauterine internal iliac, external iliac, and common iliac lymph nodes; cancer lesions on the posterior wall of the uterus can spread along the uterosacral ligament to the rectal lymph nodes; and cancer lesions on the anterior wall can spread to the bladder lymph nodes. Endometrial cancer can also drain retrogradely to the anterior wall of the vagina via lymphatic vessels.

Common metastatic pathways of endometrial cancer include direct spread: in clinical practice, the most common cause is the spread of inflammation of the endometrium, which can extend upward through the uterine horn to the fallopian tube; downward to the cervical canal, and continue to spread to the vagina. It can even extend to the fallopian tube and ovary, and flow to the pelvic peritoneum, uterine rectal pouch and greater omentum.

The common metastatic pathway of endometrial cancer is hematogenous metastasis: in the late stage, it can metastasize to various organs of the body through the blood, and common sites are lungs, liver, bones, etc. Compared with the characteristics of hematogenous transmission, the main symptom of endometrial cancer is abnormal uterine bleeding. About 90% of patients will experience this symptom. Therefore, in the infection stage of endometrial cancer, this period is also the easiest stage for detection.

The occurrence of endometrial cancer is closely related to estrogen. The treatment is mainly surgical resection, combined with preoperative or postoperative radiotherapy, and supplemented by conservative treatment with traditional Chinese medicine. The surgery is mainly hysterectomy and bilateral adnexectomy. If the tumor is large or the cells are poorly differentiated, preoperative radiotherapy and postoperative lymph node dissection should be performed. For those with positive estrogen receptors and progesterone receptors, progesterone or tamoxifen is generally used in combination. If both are negative, combined chemotherapy is performed. Surgery is only palliative resection or symptomatic treatment. After surgery, the body's vitality is damaged, and ginsenoside RH2 is generally used to assist in improving the success rate of surgery and reducing the recurrence and metastasis of tumors. Chinese and Western medicine have their own strengths in treating tumors. Therefore, the treatment of endometrial cancer must give full play to the respective advantages of traditional Chinese medicine, adhere to long-term treatment, relax the patient's psychological state, do a good job of psychological treatment, increase dietary nutrition, and improve the body's immune function. In this way, better therapeutic effects can be achieved. Examinations of endometrial cancer reveal that many cases are already in the advanced stage, usually with extrauterine metastasis. Current radiotherapy and chemotherapy regimens are relatively mature and most are effective. Current studies have shown that combining ginsenoside RH2 with radiotherapy and chemotherapy can greatly enhance efficacy and reduce toxicity, shorten the recovery period, and prevent recurrence and metastasis.

Clinically, the vast majority of patients can be diagnosed in the early stages before cancer cells spread out, and better clinical treatment can be achieved at this time. Moreover, for patients, early treatment has relatively little impact on the body.