Follow-up after treatment for uterine cancer
Follow-up care lets your healthcare team keep track of your health for a period of time after treatment ends. This important part of cancer care is often shared among the cancer specialists and your family doctor. They will help you recover from treatment side effects and monitor you for any signs that the cancer has come back (recurred).
Follow-up care may not seem that important to you, especially if your treatment was long or very hard. You may find the idea of follow-up care stressful because it reminds you of your cancer experience or because you are worried about what a test might reveal. Talk to your healthcare team about how you feel and about why follow-up matters. Your healthcare team is there to help.
Schedule for follow-up visits
Don't wait until your next scheduled appointment to report any new symptoms or symptoms that don't go away. Tell your healthcare team if you have:
- abnormal vaginal bleeding or discharge
- blood in your stool (poop) or urine (pee)
- pain in your pelvis, lower abdomen or back
- fatigue
- nausea and vomiting
- diarrhea
- loss of appetite
- weight loss
- shortness of breath
- a cough that doesn’t go away
- swelling in your abdomen or legs
The chance that uterine cancer will come back (recur) is greatest within the first 5 years after diagnosis, so you will need close follow-up during this time.
How often and for how long you’ll have follow-up depends on the type, stage and grade of the uterine cancer you had. People who had a higher stage and grade or high-risk cancer type will have more frequent follow-up visits and will be followed for longer. For most people, follow-up visits for uterine cancer are scheduled:
- every 3 to 6 months for the first 2 to 3 years after treatment is completed
- every 6 to 12 months for the next 2 to 3 years
- once a year every year after
During follow-up visits
During a follow-up visit, your healthcare team will usually ask questions about the side effects of treatment and how you're coping.
Your doctor may do a physical exam, including:
- a pelvic exam and a digital rectal exam
- feeling the abdomen for any lumps, tenderness, swelling or fluid
- feeling the lymph nodes in the neck and groin area
Tests are often part of follow-up care. You may have:
- imaging tests (such as a CT scan of the chest, abdomen and pelvis) to look for tumours or abnormal growths that may be cancer
- blood tests to look at levels of cancer antigen 125 (CA125) for a sign that high-risk uterine cancer (for example, serous carcinoma or carcinosarcoma) has recurred
- a chest x-ray if you have a cough that won’t go away
If the cancer has come back, you and your healthcare team will discuss your treatment and care.
Find out more about follow-up
The following are questions that you can ask the healthcare team about follow-up after treatment for cancer. Choose the questions that fit your situation and add questions of your own. You may find it helpful to take the list to the next appointment and to write down the answers.
- What is the schedule for follow-up visits?
- How often is follow-up scheduled with the cancer specialist?
- Who is responsible for follow-up visits?
- What will happen at a follow-up visit?
- What tests are done on a regular basis? How often are they done?
- Are there any symptoms that should be reported right away? Who do I call?
- Who can help me cope with long-term side effects of treatment?
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