Former East Enders actress Danielle Westbrook has revealed she's battling womb cancer.
Danniella, who started noticing symptoms of the disease - the fourth most common cancer in women - more than a year and a half ago will undergo a hysterectomy next month and is anxiously waiting to find out if the cancer has spread.
Womb cancer is more common in women who have more tummy fat and women who have been through the menopause.
Cancer of the uterus is the most common type of female reproductive cancer and the fourth most common cancer diagnosed in women, behind breast cancer, lung cancer and bowel cancer.
Notably, the findings of a research, published last year suggested women who have a higher waist to hip ratio are a fifth more likely to get womb cancer.
Researchers found that for every 0.1 unit increase in the ratio, the risk of developing womb cancer increased by 21 per cent, they wrote in the British Medical Journal.
Women can work out their waist to hip ratio by dividing their waist circumference by their hip measurement.
Here are the symptoms of womb cancer:
The most common symptom of womb cancer is abnormal bleeding from the vagina.
It may start as a light bleed with a watery discharge, which may get heavier over time.
As most women who are diagnosed have been through the menopause, any vaginal bleeding will be unusual.
In women who haven't been through the menopause, periods may be heavier than usual or women may experience bleeding between periods.
The symptoms include:
- Abnormal bleeding
- Pain in the lower abdomen
- Pain during sex
- Pain in the back
- Loss of appetite
- Tiredness
- Nausea
Causes of womb cancer:
Age: The majority of cases occur in women aged 40 to 74, with only 1 per cent of cases being diagnosed in women under 40
Oestrogen: One of the hormones that regulates the reproductive system in women. Oestrogen stimulates the release of eggs from your ovaries and causes the cells of the womb lining to divide and progesterone gets the lining of your uterus ready to receive the egg from the ovaries. If these become out of balance and more oestrogen is produced, the cells of the lining of the womb can divide, increasing the risk of cancer.
Obesity: Oestrogen can be produced in fatty tissue and being overweight or obese increases the level of oestrogen in the body. Women who are overweight are three times more likely to develop womb cancer compared with women who are a healthy weight, while very obese women are six times more likely to develop endometrial cancer compared with women who are a healthy weight.
Not having children: Women who have not had children are at a higher risk of womb cancer, which medics believe could be down increased levels of progesterone and decreased levels of oestrogen that occur during pregnancy having a protective effect on the lining of the womb
Diabetes: Women with diabetes are twice as likely to develop the cancer because it can increase the amount of insulin in the body, which in turn raises oestrogen levels. Polycystic ovaries: Women with polycystic ovaries are more likely to develop the womb cancer because they also have more oestrogen in their body
Endometrial hyperplasia: Condition causes the lining of the womb to become thicker, which could leave women at an increased risk of the cancer
Treatment
Surgery is the main treatment for womb cancer, but different methods such as chemotherapy and radio therapy can be used as well. The treatment very much depends on how advanced the cancer is.
Under very specific circumstances hormone replacement therapy can be used as a form of treatment, but it depends on what stage the cancer is at.
