But if the cancer is already advanced and metastasized, the chances of surviving the disease are slim.
Half die within three years.
Now, the results of an international trial of immunotherapy offer hope for patients and doctors.
“I think some of the patients will recover,” says Mansoor Raza Mirza, chief physician at Rigshospitalet’s cancer center in Denmark.
‘That was previously not a realistic option for patients with metastatic uterine cancer. Operations, chemotherapy and radiotherapy have an effect, but unfortunately that is often short-lived.’
The 494 participating women were randomly divided into two groups. Half received immunotherapy and traditional chemotherapy, and the other half received chemotherapy and a placebo (a saline solution).
In the patients who had received immunotherapy, the disease had not got worse after 2 years twice as often as in the patients who received chemotherapy and placebo.
The survival rate was nearly 25 percent greater in the immunotherapy group.
“This is a huge difference, both in time without deterioration and survival rate,” said Mansoor Raza Mirza, who presented the results Monday at a virtual conference for oncologists from around the world.
At the final stage
On the same day, the study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The 44-year-old Danish woman Sidsel Solmer Eriksen, who was diagnosed with uterine cancer in 2020, is one of the women studied. Tissue samples showed that the disease had spread to her abdominal cavity and an ovary.
The disease was in its most critical stage: stage four.
“When I asked the doctor what comes after stage four, he said there are no more stages after that. So when I was offered to participate in this experiment, along with chemotherapy, I thought it would improve my chances.’
Because it’s a double-blind trial, she doesn’t yet know if she’ll receive immunotherapy or a placebo during her six-week hospital treatment.
But the regular scans show reassuring results. Her condition has not deteriorated.
‘It’s a very special situation, because of course you think a lot about the near future and your life prospects. But I live with the hope that the treatment will give me the best possible chance.’