In the United States, cancer of the endometrium is the most common cancer of the female reproductive organs. The American Cancer Society most recent estimates for endometrial cancer in the United States are for 2009:

• about 42,160 new cases of cancer of the body of the uterus (uterine corpus) will be diagnosed in the United States during 2009.
• about 7,780 women in the United States will die from cancers of the uterine body during 2009.

These estimates include both endometrial cancers and uterine sarcomas. About 2% of uterine body cancers are sarcomas, so the actual numbers for endometrial cancer cases and deaths are slightly lower than these estimates.

Endometrial cancer is rare in women under the age of 40. Most cases are found in women aged 50 and over, with more than half of all endometrial cancer cases diagnosed in the 50 to 69 age group. The average chance of a woman being diagnosed with this cancer during her lifetime is about one in 40. There are over 500,000 women who are survivors of this cancer. This cancer is more common in white women, but black women are more likely to die from it.

When all cases of endometrial cancer are looked at together, the 5-year relative survival rate is about 83%. Most of these cancers are found at an early stage, which has a 5-year survival rate of over 95%. However, the outlook (prognosis) for any single woman depends on the stage of her cancer as well as several other factors.

Five-year rates are a standard way for doctors to discuss prognosis. The 5-year survival rate refers to the percentage of women who live at least five years after their cancer is diagnosed. But many of these women live much longer than five years after diagnosis. Relative survival rates compare the survival of people with the cancer to the survival for people without the cancer. Since some people will die of causes other than cancer, this is a way to look only at deaths from the cancer in question. The 5-year relative survival rate is a more accurate way to describe the outlook for patients with a particular type and stage of cancer.

But it is important to always remember that people are not statistics. Every person is different, and every person will have his/her own experience with cancer and its treatment. The statistics themselves are based on patients diagnosed and first treated more than five years ago. They do not take into account newer and more effective treatments that may mean a better outlook for recently diagnosed patients. To learn more about survival rates see the section, "How is endometrial cancer treated?"

Last Medical Review: 10/22/2009
Last Revised: 10/22/2009