About chemotherapy for womb cancer

Chemotherapy uses anti cancer (cytotoxic) drugs to destroy cancer cells. They work by stopping the growth of cancer cells. The drugs circulate in the bloodstream around the body.

Chemotherapy is not usually used for early stage womb cancer. At the moment, there is not enough evidence that chemotherapy after surgery would reduce the risk of the cancer coming back. A European trial is comparing radiotherapy alone after surgery with radiotherapy and chemotherapy after surgery for operable womb cancer. If this trial shows that chemotherapy helps to stop womb cancer coming back, this type of treatment may start to be used after surgery for early stage womb cancer.

Doctors do sometimes use chemotherapy to treat advanced womb cancers and womb cancer that has come back after it was first treated. These treatments are being tested in clinical trials.

If you have chemotherapy to help treat or reduce symptoms from womb cancer, you may have a single drug or a combination of drugs. You may have a drug called carboplatin on its own. Or you may have doxorubicin (Adriamycin) with either cisplatin or carboplatin. A combination called CAP is sometimes used. CAP is short for the names of the drugs in the combination – cyclophosphamide (C), doxorubicin, which is also called Adriamycin (A) and cisplatin or carboplatin (P).

Another Europe wide trial is comparing cisplatin and doxorubicin chemotherapy to cisplatin, doxorubicin and paclitaxel (Taxol) for advanced womb cancer.

There is information about the specific side effects of carboplatin, cisplatin, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide and paclitaxel in our cancer drugs section.

It is usual to have chemotherapy in cycles of treatment, with a few weeks break in between treatments. You are most likely to have this treatment as an outpatient. Before each treatment you need to have blood tests to make sure your blood counts are high enough to cope with the side effects of the chemotherapy. You have the blood tests done, then wait for the results before you have your treatment. You have the chemotherapy drugs as injections or through a drip and go home after you have had them. 

Sometimes chemotherapy needs a short stay in hospital. Whether you are treated in the outpatient department or in the hospital depends on the drugs you are having. Some drugs have to be given with a lot of fluids, so you need to stay in to have a drip. Others need to go in slowly through a drip over 12 or 24 hours.

There is more about how you have chemotherapy in our main chemotherapy section.

Chemotherapy has side effects. The effects you get depend on

• Which drugs you have
• How much of each drug you have
• How you react to the drug

Not everyone gets every side effect with every drug. Some people react more than others. And different drugs have different side effects. So we can't tell you exactly what will happen to you. Most side effects only last for the few days that you are actually having the drugs. And there is quite a bit that can be done to help. Here is a list of some common side effects

• A drop in the number of blood cells causing increased risk of infection, bruising or bleeding, and anaemia
• Feeling sick
• Diarrhoea
• Hair loss or thinning
• A sore mouth and mouth ulcers
• Feeling tired and run down

Ask your doctor or nurse which of these side effects are most common with the chemotherapy drugs you will have. 

Tell your doctor or nurse about any side effects you have straight away so that they can help you as much as possible.

Chemotherapy courses can seem to go on for a long time. Particularly if you are getting very tired towards the end of your course. But they do finish. And the side effects will go once your treatment has ended.

We don't yet know much scientifically about how some nutritional or herbal supplements may interact with chemotherapy. Some could be harmful. It is very important to let your doctors know if you take any supplements. Or if you are prescribed them by alternative or complementary therapy practitioners.

Talk to your specialist about any other tablets or medicines you take while you are having active treatment. There is information about the safety of herbal, vitamin and diet supplements in our complementary therapies section.

Some studies seem to suggest that fish oil preparations may reduce the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs. If you are taking or thinking of taking these supplements talk to your doctor to find out whether they could affect your treatment.

For more about chemotherapy look at the main chemotherapy section in CancerHelp UK.

It explains the treatment in detail including

• What chemo involves
• How chemotherapy is planned
• How chemotherapy is given
• General chemo side effects
• Living with chemotherapy

If you would like more information about anything to do with chemotherapy, contact one of the cancer information organisations on our womb cancer organisations page. They will be happy to help. They often have free factsheets and booklets, which they can send to you.

You can also contact our cancer information nurses. They would be happy to help.