“Tripled in 20 Years: The Alarming Rise of Endometrial Cancer in Young Women”

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2030 Endometrial cancer patients tripled in 20 years

If you have abnormal vaginal bleeding, seek medical attention immediately.

[서울=뉴시스] Reporter Baek Young-mi = The number of young endometrial cancer patients who develop cancer in the endometrium (inner wall) of the uterus is greatly increasing.

If you have abnormal vaginal bleeding, you need to be diagnosed with endometrial cancer.

Looking at big data released by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service on the 13th, the number of endometrial cancer patients increased by about 5,000 over the past five years from 19,975 in 2018 to 24,787 in 2022. In particular, it is known that endometrial cancer mainly occurs in women in their 50s or older, and the number of endometrial cancer patients in their 20s and 30s more than tripled in 20 years from 2000 to 2020.

The endometrium repeatedly thickens and thins every month due to menstruation. Endometrial cancer refers to the abnormal proliferation of these endometrial cells. It is so common in women that it is called one of the four major cancers in women along with breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and cervical cancer.

Endometrial cancer is greatly affected by estrogen, the female hormone. Recently, obesity has also emerged as a major cause of increased risk of endometrial cancer. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization (WHO), also announced that obesity is associated with endometrial cancer. Park Seong-taek, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Hallym University Gangnam Sacred Heart Hospital, said, “In fact, many endometrial cancer patients are obese.”

If you have diabetes, if you have a family history, or if you have polycystic ovary syndrome, which has a prevalence of 5 to 10% in women of childbearing age, it is easy to develop endometrial cancer. Patients with polycystic ovary syndrome do not produce progesterone, which prevents the endometrium from overproliferating, so the endometrium grows excessively, increasing the risk of endometrial cancer.

Abnormal vaginal bleeding is the most common early symptom of endometrial cancer. In particular, if you have vaginal bleeding after menopause, you should see a doctor right away because the possibility of endometrial cancer is high.

In addition, if there is irregular bleeding even though it is not the menstrual period, if the menstrual cycle is excessively irregular, if the menstrual period is too long or the amount is large, it is good to find a hospital. In addition, if abdominal pain or pelvic pain continues, it is necessary to undergo a vaginal ultrasound at the gynecologist.

Like other cancers, endometrial cancer is treated through surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. If you are a young patient in the early stage, you can treat it by scraping the endometrium and then using hormones to suppress endometrial proliferation. If endometrial cancer is advanced, the uterus may be removed surgically.

However, in the case of obese patients, when open surgery is performed, access is difficult due to the long distance from the skin to the uterus to be operated on, and it is difficult to secure the field of view even after the incision. In addition, the incision site does not heal well and complications are easy to occur.

In this case, robotic surgery can be used. Robotic surgery is a surgical procedure using a robotic surgical device such as the da Vinci Xi.

A thin robot arm equipped with an endoscope and camera reaches deep into the pelvis to take pictures of the affected area, and the surgeon checks the affected area with 3D images and performs surgery.

Professor Park said, “Most obese endometrial cancer patients are treated with robotic surgery. Robotic surgery with a small incision range has less pain and related complications, faster recovery, and smaller scars, so patients are more satisfied.” said.

Endometrial cancer has a good prognosis (prognosis), such as being cured in most cases, if detected early, but in stage 3 or higher, the cure rate decreases rapidly and the recurrence rate increases, so early detection through regular ultrasound examination is necessary.

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