Runners call it Heartbreak Hill, but for Michelle O’Brien the long, rising stretch of pavement that crosses the 20-mile point of the Boston Marathon® route represents the top of the mountain. Just over three years after being diagnosed in back-to-back months with two unrelated cancers — invasive breast cancer in December 2020, and then stage … Read more
Investigators who run investigator-initiated trials (IITs) have two essential qualities. One is curiosity, which keeps them alert, aware of discoveries, and able to make connections that lead to new treatment ideas. The second is determination. “The burden of responsibility for what is typically a many-year-long study falls on that one investigator,” says Ursula Matulonis, MD, … Read more
A recent study found that women who frequently use chemical hair straighteners and relaxers could have a higher risk of developing uterine cancer than those who have not used the products. The study, which tracked 34,000 women nationwide for more than a decade, comes at a time when uterine cancer rates in women are increasing, … Read more
Uterine cancer — also known as endometrial cancer — has traditionally been classified as endometrioid or non-endometrioid based on the appearance of the tumor cells under a microscope. Now, as scientists learn more about the molecular makeup of the disease, uterine cancers are increasingly identified by the specific genetic alterations within them. Endometrioid uterine tumors … Read more
Stephanie Davis is a master adapter. When she was initially diagnosed with serous uterine cancer, she found a way to continue working around surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Today, she is still adapting — moving from one treatment plan to another as her cancer changes — and is in consultation with her care team to keep … Read more
As a designer of fantasy-style board games, Kate Beckett knows that timing and chance can play important roles in a player’s survival. Living with metastatic endometrial cancer, she has proof both can also be helpful in the real world. Beckett had already endured a hysterectomy, chemotherapy, radiation, and a serious kidney infection during six years … Read more
In the annals of patients who have benefited from Dana-Farber and Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s (BWH) genomic sequencing program Profile, few involve a turnabout as dramatic as one recently reported in Gynecologic Oncology. Authored by nearly a dozen Dana-Farber and BWH faculty, the paper recounts the medical history of a 49-year-old Nebraska woman first diagnosed … Read more
Endometriosis is a non-cancerous disorder that occurs when tissue lining the inside of the uterus, known as the endometrium, appears in other parts of the body. It usually is found in the lower abdomen or pelvis but can appear in virtually any organ or tissue. Endometrial cancer, by contrast, occurs when cells in the endometrium … Read more
A new generation of drugs and drug combinations is changing the outlook for patients with endometrial cancer. The results of the first clinical trials of the new therapies were so promising that they’ve led researchers to launch follow-up trials to explore the potential for even better outcomes. The trials are geared to patients diagnosed with … Read more
Endometrial cancer — sometimes referred to as uterine cancer — is the most common cancer of the female reproductive organs. In the case of this disease, malignant (cancerous) cells form in the endometrium. The endometrium is the lining of the uterus, an organ where a fetus grows. It mainly affecting postmenopausal women. With early detection, … Read more
Although she had been fully prepped on what to expect, Barbara Losordo was a bit surprised at the ease and speed of her recovery from surgery for endometrial cancer. Discharged from the hospital the same day she had undergone the procedure, she needed no pain medication afterward. Within a week, she was driving. Within a month, … Read more
A new online assessment tool developed at Dana-Farber can help rapidly identify people who should undergo genetic testing for Lynch syndrome, an inherited disorder that greatly increases the lifetime risk of colorectal, endometrial, ovarian, stomach, and other cancers. An estimated 1 in 279 individuals – nearly a million people in the United States – carry … Read more
For endometrial cancer, as for virtually every form of cancer, advances in genomics are transforming the understanding and treatment of this disease, which arises in the lining of the uterus or womb. As part of the Profile research project at Dana-Farber, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Boston Children’s Hospital, investigators have scanned hundreds of endometrial … Read more