Approximately 70 percent of recurrences take place within three years of the initial therapy. Symptoms of recurrent cancer may include vaginal bleeding or discharge, pain in the pelvis, abdomen, back or legs, leg swelling (edema), weight loss and chronic cough.
Local recurrences—those in the pelvic wall, vagina and the tissue surrounding the cervix and uterus (parametrium are the most common sites in women who have not received pelvic radiation; distant metastases to the lung liver or abdominal cavity are more common in women who have.
Radiation therapy , if not given previously, may cure those women with a vaginal or parametrial recurrence. In women who have a localized vaginal recurrence involving the bladder or rectum, the removal of the bladder and/or rectum and vagina (total pelvic exenteration) can be curative in 40 to 50 percent of cases.
Unfortunately, most women with recurrent endometrial cancer outside the pelvis cannot be cured. But symptoms may be relieved with progestational therapy, antiestrogen therapy or chemotherapy as noted above.
