← Return to Uterine clear-cell carcinoma, chemo treatment unknowns

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@bluemeade7

@bruges Hi. I have the almost as rare uterine serous carcinoma. Surgery 7/2018, dx Stage 1a UPSC with LVSI. I had robotic radical hysterectomy, no cancer anywhere except the uterus and LVSI. Two sentinel nodes were sampled, no cancer. Easy recovery. I had 2 chemo with 3 brachy followed by 2 more chemo. Brachy was recommended due to my stage. The treatment is not terrible, pretty undignified, but everyone was so kind and respectful. I was VERY hesitant to have any radiation due to the side effects short and lon term, but after consultation with my radiologist I agreed. I have had very little short term side effects, diarrhea, which lasted only a few days. For me very tolerable. What sealed the deal for me is that local recurrence in the vaginal cuff is common even for stage 1a. Plus my gyne who did my hysteroscopy removed most of my tumor thinking it was a fibroid during the biopsy which puts me at additional risk. So get all of your questions answered so you can make an informed decision. With a very aggressive serous carcinoma I did not want to take a chance. Hope this helps. The chemo and brachy are the standards for 1a serous by the Nccn.

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Replies to "@Bruges Hi. I have the almost as rare uterine serous carcinoma. Surgery 7/2018, dx Stage 1a..."

Hi @bluemeade7, thank you for your message. Personally I chose not to have the brachy for now. For clear cell carcinoma, statistics show that a vaginal cuff recurrence is under 10%. Brachytherapy would halve that. If it weren’t for the autoimmune diseases I have, I would have chosen the brachy.
The radiologist said that by not doing brachy I wasn’t taking unnecessary risks. I also went for a second opinion about the adjuvant therapy. The doctor there sad that in case there was a recurrence at the vaginal cuff, surgery could also be an option.
Both doctors as well as the radiologist pointed out that having or not having brachy would not impact my overall survival time.
I appreciated their straightforwardness.
Recovery from the surgery has been harder then I had anticipated. Did they remove only two lymph nodes during your surgery?
All the best!