Recent advances in research on epigenetic alterations and clinical significance of para-aortic lymphadenectomy in endometrial cancer: an introduction

Excerpt

Endometrial cancer is the most frequent cancer of the female reproductive organs in industrialized countries. In 2012, the numbers of new cases and deaths from endometrial cancer in the US were estimated to be 47,130 and 8,010, respectively [1]. The incidence of endometrial cancer is also increasing steadily in Japan, where the estimated number of new cases in 2007 was 9,104 [2] and the number of deaths in 2011 was 2,034 [3]. Endometrial cancer is a surgically staged disease and post-operative therapy is offered to patients with a high risk of recurrence according to the extent and aggressiveness of the tumor. Current topics in endometrial cancer include: the therapeutic significance of lymphadenectomy, the role of epigenetic alterations, and revision of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics staging criteria (FIGO 2008) for this disease. …