Skip to main content
Home
  • Affected by Cancer
  • Healthy Living
  • Clinical Best Practice
  • Research & Data
  • Publications & Resources
  • About Us
  • Home
  • Affected by Cancer
    • What is cancer
    • Cancer A-Z
    • Cancer statistics
    • Interactive body map
    • Check your cancer risk online
    • Treatment
    • Living with cancer
    • Life after cancer
    • For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
    • Cancer support organisations
    • Australian cancer trials
    • Jeannie Ferris Award
    • COVID-19 and cancer
    • Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD)
    • Bladder cancer
    • Bowel cancer
    • Brain cancer
    • Breast cancer
    • Breast cancer in men
    • Breast cancer in young women
    • Cervical cancer
    • Children's Cancer
    • Endometrial cancer
    • Fallopian cancer
    • Gestational trophoblastic disease
    • Gynaecological cancers
    • Head and neck cancer
    • Kidney cancer
    • Leukaemia
    • Liver cancer
    • Lung cancer
    • Lymphoma
    • Melanoma of the skin
    • Mesothelioma cancer
    • Myeloma
    • Neuroendocrine tumours
    • Oesophageal cancer
    • Ovarian cancer
    • Pancreatic cancer
    • Prostate cancer
    • Sarcoma
    • Stomach cancer
    • Testicular cancer
    • Thyroid cancer
    • Unknown primary
    • Uterine sarcoma
    • Vaginal cancer
    • Vulval cancer
  • Healthy Living
    • Lifestyle & risk reduction
    • Screening
  • Clinical Best Practice
    • Cancer types
    • Psychosocial care
    • Multidisciplinary care
    • Cancer learning
    • Australian cancer trials
    • Consumer engagement
    • Shared follow-up care
  • Research & Data
    • Research
    • Grants and funding
    • Support for clinical trials
    • Cancer data
  • Publications & Resources
    • Cancer Australia publications
    • Position statements
    • Clinical Practice Guidelines
    • Cancer Australia websites
    • Cancer risk online tools
    • Other tools and resources
    • Podcasts
    • Subscribe to our eNewsletter
    • Glossary
  • About Us
    • Strategic Plan 2014-2019
    • Organisational structure
    • Accountability and reporting
    • Position Statements
    • Who we work with
    • Lung Cancer Screening enquiry
    • National Pancreatic Cancer Roadmap
    • News
    • Media
    • Campaigns & events
    • Information publication scheme
    • Reconciliation action plan
    • Employment opportunities
    • Contact us

Endometrial cancer

endometrial-mm affected-cancer/cancer-types/endometrial-cancer/what-endometrial-cancer
    • Home
    • Types
    • Statistics
    • Risk factors
      • What you can do
      • Personal
        • Age
      • Lifestyle
        • Acrylamide in the diet
        • Alcohol
        • Coffee, green tea and black tea
        • Fat in the diet
        • Glycaemic load
        • Overweight and obesity
        • Passive smoking
        • Physical activity
        • Sedentary behaviour
        • Smoking
        • Weight loss
      • Reproductive
        • Age at menopause
        • Age when periods started
        • Breastfeeding
        • Having children
      • Medical history and medications
        • Aspirin and related medicines
        • Diabetes
        • Endometrial hyperplasia and polyps
        • Endometriosis
        • High blood pressure
        • Hormonal treatment for infertility
        • Intrauterine device (IUD) contraception
        • Menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) (also known as hormone replacement therapy)
        • Metformin
        • Oral Bisphosphonates
        • Oral contraceptive pill
        • Paracetamol
        • Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)
        • Selective oestrogen receptor modulators
        • Statins
        • Stress
      • Family history and genetics
        • Mismatch repair gene mutations (Lynch syndrome)
        • PTEN gene mutation (Cowden syndrome)
        • Family history of endometrial cancer or colorectal cancer
      • Understanding risk
      • Lynch syndrome
    • Symptoms
    • Diagnosis
    • Treatment
    • Finding support
    • Clinical trials
    • Health professionals
    • Home
    • Types
    • Statistics
    • Risk factors
      • What you can do
      • Personal
        • Age
      • Lifestyle
        • Acrylamide in the diet
        • Alcohol
        • Coffee, green tea and black tea
        • Fat in the diet
        • Glycaemic load
        • Overweight and obesity
        • Passive smoking
        • Physical activity
        • Sedentary behaviour
        • Smoking
        • Weight loss
      • Reproductive
        • Age at menopause
        • Age when periods started
        • Breastfeeding
        • Having children
      • Medical history and medications
        • Aspirin and related medicines
        • Diabetes
        • Endometrial hyperplasia and polyps
        • Endometriosis
        • High blood pressure
        • Hormonal treatment for infertility
        • Intrauterine device (IUD) contraception
        • Menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) (also known as hormone replacement therapy)
        • Metformin
        • Oral Bisphosphonates
        • Oral contraceptive pill
        • Paracetamol
        • Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)
        • Selective oestrogen receptor modulators
        • Statins
        • Stress
      • Family history and genetics
        • Mismatch repair gene mutations (Lynch syndrome)
        • PTEN gene mutation (Cowden syndrome)
        • Family history of endometrial cancer or colorectal cancer
      • Understanding risk
      • Lynch syndrome
    • Symptoms
    • Diagnosis
    • Treatment
    • Finding support
    • Clinical trials
    • Health professionals
  1. Home
  2. Risk factors
  3. Medical history and medications
  4. Selective oestrogen receptor modulators
  • What you can do
  • Personal
  • Lifestyle
  • Reproductive
  • Medical history and medications
    • Aspirin and related medicines
    • Diabetes
    • Endometrial hyperplasia and polyps
    • Endometriosis
    • High blood pressure
    • Hormonal treatment for infertility
    • Intrauterine device (IUD) contraception
    • Menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) (also known as hormone replacement therapy)
    • Metformin
    • Oral Bisphosphonates
    • Oral contraceptive pill
    • Paracetamol
    • Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)
    • Selective oestrogen receptor modulators
    • Statins
    • Stress
  • Family history and genetics
  • Understanding risk
  • Lynch syndrome

Selective oestrogen receptor modulators

  • Printer-friendly version
  • A|A
Convincing: There is compelling and consistent evidence that the factor increases or decreases the risk of endometrial cancer. Increases risk

Tamoxifen

Use of tamoxifen* is associated with an increased risk of endometrial cancer. This increase in risk is seen in:

  • women with breast cancer who take tamoxifen as adjuvant treatment (to reduce the risk of breast cancer coming back) and
  • women at high risk of breast cancer who take tamoxifen to reduce their risk of developing breast cancer.

The risk of endometrial cancer in women using tamoxifen as adjuvant treatment for breast cancer has been measured in different ways. Some studies have compared women taking tamoxifen with those who do not take tamoxifen. Other studies have compared women who take tamoxifen with those who take a different medicine to reduce their risk of breast cancer coming back (for example, an aromatase inhibitor#). The risk of endometrial cancer was consistently higher in women taking tamoxifen. The risk of endometrial cancer increases with longer use of tamoxifen. In women who take tamoxifen for 10 years, the risk of endometrial cancer is twice as high as the risk in women who take tamoxifen for 5 years.

The risk of endometrial cancer is about 3 times higher in postmenopausal women who take tamoxifen compared with women taking aromatase inhibitors for breast cancer treatment. Changing to an aromatase inhibitor instead of continued treatment with tamoxifen is also associated with a lower risk of endometrial cancer compared with long-term tamoxifen treatment.

Taking tamoxifen is an important adjuvant therapy and women should balance the important benefits of reducing breast cancer recurrence with any rare side effects including the increased risk of endometrial cancer.

An increased risk of endometrial cancer has also been seen in women who take tamoxifen to reduce their risk of breast cancer. The risk of endometrial cancer doubles as a result of taking tamoxifen. These studies have only shown an increase in endometrial cancer risk in women older than 50 years of age.

The association between tamoxifen and increased risk of endometrial cancer is likely to be due to hormones. Although tamoxifen blocks the effects of the female hormone oestrogen in breast cells, it has effects that are similar to oestrogen in the uterus. This is likely to contribute to an increased risk of endometrial cancer.

No association: There is consistent evidence from good quality studies to show that this factor neither increases nor decreases the risk of endometrial cancer.

Raloxifene

Taking raloxifene is not associated with risk of endometrial cancer.

In studies of women taking raloxifene to reduce the risk of breast cancer, no change in the risk of endometrial cancer has been seen.

Raloxifene works in a different way to tamoxifen. Unlike tamoxifen, it does not have effects on the uterus that are similar to oestrogen.

*Selective oestrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) are medicines used in the treatment and prevention of breast cancer.

  • Tamoxifen is a type of SERM therapy that is used in addition to other treatments for breast cancer to reduce the risk of breast cancer coming back after treatment. It is also used to reduce the risk of breast cancer in women at high risk of breast cancer. Tamoxifen can be used regardless of whether women have reached menopause.
  • Raloxifene is another type of SERM therapy that is used to reduce the risk of breast cancer in women at high risk. It is also used to prevent and treat osteoporosis. Raloxifene is only used by women who have reached menopause. 

#Aromatase inhibitors such as anastrazole and letrozole are a different type of hormone therapy used in the treatment of oestrogen-receptor positive breast cancer in postmenopausal women, and are used as an alternative to tamoxifen or in sequence after tamoxifen.

 
  • Last Updated
  • Relevant Links
updated: 20 October 2020 - 3:32pm
Cancer Council
National Cancer Institute
American Cancer Society

Related information

What is cancer?
What is cancer?

Cancer is a disease of the cells, which are the body’s basic building blocks.

Treatment and side effects
Treatment and side effects

The treatment that your doctors recommend will depend on the type of cancer you have, how advanced it is, and other personal factors.

Living with cancer
Living with cancer

A diagnosis of cancer marks the beginning of a journey full of emotional, psychological, physical and practical challenges.

Life after cancer
Life after cancer

While looking forward to finishing their cancer treatment and getting on with life, for some people, the end of treatment can also be a confusing or worrying time.

A-Z List of Cancer Types

Information on more than 70 types of cancer

  • Bladder cancer
  • Bowel cancer
  • Brain cancer
  • Breast cancer
  • Breast cancer in men
  • Breast cancer in young women
  • Cervical cancer
  • Children's Cancer
  • Endometrial cancer
  • Fallopian cancer
  • Gestational trophoblastic disease
  • Gynaecological cancers
  • Head and neck cancer
  • Kidney cancer
  • Leukaemia
  • Liver cancer
  • Lung cancer
  • Lymphoma
  • Melanoma of the skin
  • Mesothelioma cancer
  • Myeloma
  • Neuroendocrine tumours
  • Oesophageal cancer
  • Ovarian cancer
  • Pancreatic cancer
  • Prostate cancer
  • Sarcoma
  • Stomach cancer
  • Testicular cancer
  • Thyroid cancer
  • Unknown primary
  • Uterine sarcoma
  • Vaginal cancer
  • Vulval cancer

About Cancer Australia

Cancer Australia was established by the Australian Government in 2006 to benefit all Australians affected by cancer, and their families and carers. Cancer Australia aims to reduce the impact of cancer, address disparities and improve outcomes for people affected by cancer by leading and coordinating national, evidence-based interventions across the continuum of care.

If you would like an interpreter to help you understand any information on this website, please call TIS National on 131 450 and ask them to call Cancer Australia on 02 9357 9400. Our business hours are 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

Freecall 1800 624 973
+61 2 9357 9400

Locked Bag 3, Strawberry Hills
NSW 2012

Navigation

  • Affected by Cancer
  • Healthy Living
  • Clinical Best Practice
  • Research & Data
  • Publications & Resources
  • About Us

Contact us

* Denotes mandatory fields
 

By submitting this form, you accept the Cancer Australia privacy policy.

  • Contact Us
  • Copyright
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy policy
  • Sitemap
Copyright © 2021 - Cancer Australia