Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsEndometriosisSymptomsCausesDiagnosisStagingTreatmentFrequently Asked Questions
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Endometriosis
Symptoms
Causes
Diagnosis
Staging
Treatment
Frequently Asked Questions
Endometriosisis a condition caused when tissue that resembles the lining of the uterus (womb) grows outside the uterus, where it should not be. This condition is noncancerous and not deadly, but it can significantly affect your quality of life.
Endometriosis is not cancer and does not seem to increase the risk of uterine cancer. Some studies have suggested that about 2% of people with endometriosis developuterine cancer. This is similar to the rate of uterine cancer in the broader female population, which is between 1% and 3%.
Rareovarian cancers, including clear cell ovarian cancer and endometrioid ovarian cancer, are more common in people with endometriosis. Still, because these cancers are so rare, these differences aren’t enough to raise the cancer risk of people with endometriosis substantially higher than those without endometriosis.
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This article will clear up the confusion about endometriosis being cancer and whether endometriosis increases cancer risk. Below are the definitions and differences between endometriosis, endometrial cancer, and endometritis.
Endometriosis Is Not Endometrial Cancer
Both endometriosis andendometrial cancerdevelop from the tissue that lines the inside of the uterus. Theuterusis a small, pear-shaped female reproductive organ with a central cavity. This cavity holds a fetus during pregnancy. At the bottom of the cavity is the cervix, which leads into the vagina.
What Is Endometriosis?Endometriosis is a noncancerous (benign) condition that causes tissue that resembles the uterus lining to grow in the abdomen. It can cause severe pelvic pain, irregular menstrual bleeding, gastrointestinal (related to the digestive tract) symptoms, and infertility.The tissue can spread into the abdomen but also in more distant places, such as the lungs, skin, or brain.
What Is Endometriosis?
Endometriosis is a noncancerous (benign) condition that causes tissue that resembles the uterus lining to grow in the abdomen. It can cause severe pelvic pain, irregular menstrual bleeding, gastrointestinal (related to the digestive tract) symptoms, and infertility.The tissue can spread into the abdomen but also in more distant places, such as the lungs, skin, or brain.
The outer layer of the uterus, called themyometrium, is made of muscle. The inner layer is theendometrium. When there is no fetus in the uterus, and it is not being controlled with hormonal or physical birth control, theendometrium grows thickerin response to hormones.
Once every 28 days or so, this lining sheds if an embryo hasn’t implanted. The result is a menstrual period. At this time each month, blood and endometrial tissue exit the uterus through the cervix and into the vagina.
Endometriosisis when the cells lining the uterus’s central cavity grow outside the uterus. Every month when hormones make these cells grow and shed, they cause pain, inflammation, and other symptoms. Though it spreads outside the uterus, endometriosis is not cancerous and is not the same as endometrial cancer.
Endometrial cancer is when cells that line the inside of the uterus undergo changes and start growing. These cells divide uncontrollably, form balls of cells called tumors, and spread to other parts of the uterus and body.
Another medical condition that can develop in the uterus is endometritis.Endometritisis when the uterus lining becomes inflamed or irritated, usually due to an infection.
Endometritis can develop after anendometrial biopsy(removing a sample to analyze in the lab), which may be done to diagnose endometrial cancer or endometriosis. Otherwise, it is unrelated to endometrial cancer or endometriosis.
Common Symptoms of Endometriosis and Endometrial Cancer
Endometriosis and endometrial cancer have a few common symptoms, but there are areas in which they differ, as well.
Symptom Similarities
Pain is a common symptom of both endometriosis and endometrial cancer, but the types of pain and when they occur differ. Pain-related symptoms of endometriosis can include:
People with endometrial cancer typically report more generic pelvic pain that doesn’t change with the menstrual cycle.
Another common symptom of endometriosis and endometrial cancer is unusual discharge, including bleeding and spotting. About 90% of people with endometrial cancer report abnormal vaginal bleeding.People with endometrial cancer may have:
Bleeding or spotting between menstrual periods is also a common symptom of endometriosis.
What Does Endometriosis Feel Like?
Symptom Differences
Symptoms of endometriosis, like pain and bleeding, are not necessarily related to the stage of the disease. Butstage 4 endometriosisis severe and more likely to impact fertility (the ability to get pregnant).
Intestinal distress that develops during menstrual periods is another common symptom of endometriosis. This can include:
Symptoms of endometrial cancerinclude unexplained weight loss and the presence of a mass in the abdomen, especially when the tumor is more advanced.
Endometriosis Back Pain: Causes and Treatments
There are no clear causes for most cases of either endometriosis or endometrial cancer. Hormone-related treatments and hormone imbalances impact your risk for both of these conditions, but many other risk factors are different.
How to Find Relief for Endo Belly
There is no single risk factor that researchers believe directly causes endometriosis. There are a few theories about what leads to this disease, which include:
How Do Endometriosis Symptoms Feel?
Endometrial Cancer
Researchers haven’t found any specific causes that lead to endometrial cancer. The following risk factors seem to increase your risk of developing it:
What Is Endometrial Cancer?
It may take years for a person to get a diagnosis of endometriosis. The average time between the onset of symptoms and diagnosis of endometriosis is about four to 11 years, according to a 2019 review in theAmerican Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Given that these diseases have some of the same symptoms, your healthcare provider may try to determine the source of your pain or bleeding. Pelvic pain and digestive symptoms may also be due topainful bladder syndrome,irritable bowel syndrome(IBS), orfibromyalgia.
Stage 4 Endometriosis
Getting a diagnosis of endometriosis is problematic, given it can be challenging to confirm the spread of endometrial tissue.Diagnostic testing may include:
Surgery is the only way to truly confirm endometriosis. A surgeon will be able to see the growths and take samples to study under a microscope. It is also the only way to stage endometriosis, as the staging process requires a visual examination of adhesions and growths.
Stage 4 endometriosis is diagnosed if the person has severe growths deep into other tissues,ovarian cysts(fluid-filled sacs on the surface of the ovary), and large swaths of scar tissue sticking organs together. The growths may be found in the abdomen or in distant locations, including the lungs, skin, or brain.
How Endometriosis Is Diagnosed
Tests to diagnose endometrial cancer may include:
How Endometrial Cancer Is Diagnosed
Staging of Diseases
Both endometriosis and endometrial cancer are staged—meaning they are put on a scale of severity. But stage 4 endometriosis is not the same as stage 4 endometrial cancer. They are staged using different systems; these stages are defined differently and have different prognoses.
Stage IV Endometriosis
Healthcare providers stage endometriosis using the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) points system. This system assigns points based on specific characteristics of the endometriosis lesions, as seen during surgery. But the stage doesn’t necessarily correlate with symptoms or how much the disease affects the person.
The staging process is based on a visual examination of the abdomen during surgery, including the size of the lesions and scar tissue. Lesions are also classified as either deep or superficial. They are given a point value based on the system, and these points are added to determine the disease’s total stage, such that:
The stages of endometriosis based on this point system are:
Stage 4 endometriosis, or severe disease, typically has many deep growths of endometriosis plaques, large cysts on one or both ovaries, and many dense adhesions. There is usually also extensive scar tissue in the abdomen and signs of inflammation.
Endometriosis Stages and What They Mean
Because they are different diseases, the treatments for endometriosis and endometrial cancer are very different.
Recurrence of PainThere is no cure for endometriosis. Surgery can relieve the pain of endometriosis, but this relief is temporary. Within two years of surgery, 40%–80% of people with endometriosis are in pain again.
Recurrence of Pain
There is no cure for endometriosis. Surgery can relieve the pain of endometriosis, but this relief is temporary. Within two years of surgery, 40%–80% of people with endometriosis are in pain again.
Endometriosis Treatment Options
Stage 4 Endometrial Cancer
Treatment for stage 4 endometrial cancer is aggressive. Stage 4 endometrial cancer is deadly without treatment.
Targeted therapies (which attack tumors with specific characteristics), immunotherapy (uses immune system processes or specialized immune proteins), or new treatments being tested in clinical trials are treatment options for Stage 4 endometrial cancer, especially if it comes back after the first round of treatments.
How Endometrial Cancer Is Treated
Summary
Stage 4 endometriosis is not endometrial cancer. The staging of endometriosis indicates how severe the disease is, but it does not mean it’s more likely to develop into or cause cancer. Stage 4 endometriosis is a painful disease that has caused uterine tissue to grow outside the uterus, creating scar tissue.
Endometriosis can cause digestive symptoms, infertility, and pelvic pain that get worse when you’re menstruating and with time. Treatment for endometriosis focuses on treating the symptoms—relieving the pain through medications, surgery, and other treatment options.
Endometrial cancer can also cause pelvic pain, irregular bleeding or discharge. It can be felt as a lump or mass in the abdomen and can lead to unexplained weight loss.
Endometrial cancer is deadly, and the treatment is focused on removing as much of the cancer as possible and killing any remaining cancer cells with radiation, hormone therapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and targeted therapies.
Frequently Asked QuestionsRare ovarian cancers, including clear cell ovarian cancer and endometrioid ovarian cancer, are more common in endometriosis patients. But because these cancers are rare to begin with, these differences aren’t enough to raise the cancer risk of people with endometriosis substantially higher than those without it.Learn MoreCan Endometriosis Increase Your Risk of Cancer?Stage 4 endometrial cancer is not curable. It has often spread too far for surgery to remove all the cancer. Other therapies, like chemotherapy, radiation, hormone therapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapies, may put the disease into remission.Learn MoreWhat Is Stage 4 Cancer?About 20% of people diagnosed with “distant” endometrial cancer between 2011 and 2017 were alive five years later. Distant is when cancer has spread to far areas of the body and is on par with a stage 4 diagnosis.Learn MoreUterine Cancer Stages and Symptoms
Rare ovarian cancers, including clear cell ovarian cancer and endometrioid ovarian cancer, are more common in endometriosis patients. But because these cancers are rare to begin with, these differences aren’t enough to raise the cancer risk of people with endometriosis substantially higher than those without it.Learn MoreCan Endometriosis Increase Your Risk of Cancer?
Rare ovarian cancers, including clear cell ovarian cancer and endometrioid ovarian cancer, are more common in endometriosis patients. But because these cancers are rare to begin with, these differences aren’t enough to raise the cancer risk of people with endometriosis substantially higher than those without it.
Learn MoreCan Endometriosis Increase Your Risk of Cancer?
Stage 4 endometrial cancer is not curable. It has often spread too far for surgery to remove all the cancer. Other therapies, like chemotherapy, radiation, hormone therapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapies, may put the disease into remission.Learn MoreWhat Is Stage 4 Cancer?
Stage 4 endometrial cancer is not curable. It has often spread too far for surgery to remove all the cancer. Other therapies, like chemotherapy, radiation, hormone therapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapies, may put the disease into remission.
Learn MoreWhat Is Stage 4 Cancer?
About 20% of people diagnosed with “distant” endometrial cancer between 2011 and 2017 were alive five years later. Distant is when cancer has spread to far areas of the body and is on par with a stage 4 diagnosis.Learn MoreUterine Cancer Stages and Symptoms
About 20% of people diagnosed with “distant” endometrial cancer between 2011 and 2017 were alive five years later. Distant is when cancer has spread to far areas of the body and is on par with a stage 4 diagnosis.
Learn MoreUterine Cancer Stages and Symptoms
17 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
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