What is endometrial cancer?

Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecological cancer in France and the fourth most common women's cancer, with an estimated 8,000 cases annually. It mainly affects women over the age of 60. 

The endometrium is the mucous membrane lining the inside of the uterus, where the fetus develops during pregnancy. Most endometrial cancers are adenocarcinomas (cancers arising from glandular epithelial cells). Much more rarely, it can be a sarcoma (tumor originating from the connective tissue). 

The main risk factors for endometrial cancer are obesity and diabetes. In about 2 to 5% of cases¹, endometrial cancer is linked to a genetic predisposition, in particular, in the context of a Lynch syndrome (altered genes MSH1, MSH6, MLH1 or PMS2). 

The Institute of Women’s Cancers

By placing women at the heart of research and innovation, the Institute of Women's Cancers is committed to lastingly reducing the incidence and mortality of these cancers, while fundamentally transforming the patient experience.

Co-founded by Institut Curie, PSL University, and Inserm, the Institute of Women's Cancers is a University Hospital Institute (IHU) and a recipient of the France 2030 excellence label.

The Institute was founded on a core conviction: that preventing, treating, and supporting patients with these cancers requires moving beyond a tumor-centered approach.

What sets it apart is a holistic, highly personalized model at the cutting edge of adaptive medicine — one that accounts for women's biological, clinical, psychological, and social trajectories throughout their disease and beyond.

Physicians, healthcare professionals, researchers, data scientists, and experts in humanities and social sciences — working hand in hand with patients themselves — are bringing their expertise together to address breast and gynecological cancers across the full continuum of care: prevention, diagnosis, treatment, follow-up, and long-term quality of life.  

More information about the Institute of Women’s Cancers

¹  The national  french cancer institute