Patient's question:
A friend has been diagnosed with pelvic cancer and has recently developed lymphadenopathy. Could you please tell me what stage the lymphadenopathy is in pelvic cancer?Doctor's answer:
In early stages, patients may have no obvious symptoms and the disease is often discovered incidentally during examination. Once symptoms appear, they commonly manifest as:(1) Bleeding. Irregular vaginal bleeding is the primary symptom of endometrial cancer, typically ranging from light to moderate in amount. In postmenopausal women, it often presents as persistent or intermittent vaginal bleeding. Some patients may only exhibit small amounts of blood-tinged vaginal discharge after menopause. In advanced stages, the bleeding may contain necrotic tissue resembling decaying meat.
(2) Vaginal discharge. Some patients experience varying degrees of vaginal discharge. In early stages, this may appear as thin, white secretions or light blood-tinged discharge. If accompanied by infection or tumor necrosis, it may develop into purulent discharge with an odor. Occasionally, the discharge may contain tissue-like material.
(3) Pain. The tumor and its associated bleeding or infection can stimulate uterine contractions, causing intermittent lower abdominal pain. In postmenopausal women, cervical stenosis may lead to poor drainage of uterine secretions, resulting in secondary infection and uterine abscess, which can cause severe lower abdominal pain accompanied by fever.
(4) Abdominal mass. Early-stage endometrial cancer generally cannot be palpated as an abdominal mass.