Women With Breast Cancer At Risk Of Developing Deadly Type Of Uterine Cancer

Women with breast cancer have high chances of developing a deadly type of uterine cancer as well. Harmful mutations in females' BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which suppress the development of human tumors, increase women's chances of having breast and ovarian cancers.

'Aggressive' And Deadly Type Of Uterine Cancer

A new study published in the journal JAMA Oncology this week found that mutated BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes can also increase women's risk of developing uterine cancer, specifically uterine serous carcinoma. Dr. Noah Kauff, the study's senior author and director of clinical cancer genetics at the Duke Cancer Institute, said uterine serous carcinoma only comprise 10 percent of all uterine cancers, Live Science reported.

However, uterine serous carcinoma is deemed by experts as "aggressive" and these cancers represent almost half of all uterine cancer deaths. For the study, the research team examined data on more than 1,000 women with harmful mutations in their BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes.

All of the women underwent preventive gynecologic surgery to remove their ovaries and fallopian tubes, but eight have developed uterine cancer after seven to 13 years. Five have developed uterine serous carcinoma after the same time period.

The most common symptoms of uterine cancer are pain during sexual intercourse and odd vaginal bleeding, spotting or discharge, Cancer.net noted. There's also difficulty or pain while urinating and pain in the pelvic area.

Preventive Measures

The research team is thinking of more preventive measures due to the newly discovered link between breast and ovarian cancers to uterine cancer. They are urging doctors to carefully discuss the matter with women with BRCA mutations so they can consider removing their uterus along with the ovaries and fallopian tubes.

The researchers acknowledged the potentially harmful consequences of the additional procedure. But the likelihood of developing a deadly type of uterine cancer outweighs that risk.

Preventive surgery lowers cancer risk of women by 71 percent to 96 percent, according to CNN. The procedure decreases the patients' mortality rate and lengthens their lifespan compared to women who underwent surgery after being diagnosed with cancer.

Preventive surgery also comes with side effects. Women who underwent preventive surgery to lower breast cancer risk, like bilateral prophylactic mastectomy, can give them psychological well-being issues due to a change in body image. Women who had mastectomies lose nipple sensation so their sexual arousal decreases as well, the National Cancer Institute wrote.

Meanwhile, preventive surgery on the ovaries such as bilateral prophylactic salpingo-oophorectomy can decrease a woman's estrogen production. This leads to early menopause if the patient isn't in the menopausal stage yet.