Doctors at the Mater Hospital in Brisbane, where about 200 women are treated for endometrial cancer each year, say they're alarmed at the rise in the disease. or signup to continue reading More than 3000 cases of endometrial cancer were diagnosed in Australia last year, double the number recorded 20 years ago. Gynaecology oncologist Nimithri Cabraal said while most of the patients at the Mater presenting with endometrial cancer have already been through menopause, about 15 per cent are younger women.
"Most often those women are living with obesity," Dr Cabraal told AAP. "Most of them will have anovulation so they don't ovulate regularly ..
. which can lead to too much oestrogen, causing uncontrolled growth of the uterine lining." When 40-year-old Victoria Asirifi was diagnosed in 2021, she weighed 200 kilograms and didn't know her weight put her at higher risk of developing the cancer.
"I wish I had known more about the risk factors of being overweight and how it can contribute to endometrial cancer," Ms Asirifi said. Ms Asirifi had a hysterectomy in April, which Dr Cabraal said was almost always part of the treatment for endometrial cancer. She has also undergone hormone therapy and gastric sleeve surgery and has lost 60 kilograms.
Dr Cabraal said it was important to treat each patient holistically. "We recognise many of these women have other health problems - type two diabetes, heart disease, obstructed sleep apnoea - all of these things are a threat to their life," she sai.
