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Your GP will ask you questions about your symptoms and look at your medical history to see what illnesses you have had in the past.
S/he will feel your abdomen and may also do an internal examination to see if s/he can feel anything unusual, such as a swelling.
S/he may then send you to see a specialist doctor (a gynaecologist) at a nearby hospital. There are cancer referral guidelines to help GPs decide who may need to see a specialist, and how quickly.
At hospital you are likely to have:
Ultrasound scan
This test uses sound waves to build a picture of the inside of the body. To get the best possible picture, you may have a trans-vaginal scan. You lie on your back while a probe (a device like a microphone) is gently placed into your vagina. The probe makes a picture on a computer screen.
The ultrasound scan can tell your doctor how thick the lining of your uterus is, and whether you will need to have a biopsy.
Biopsy
Your doctor may need to take a sample of tissue (a biopsy) from the lining of your uterus. The sample is then sent to the laboratory to be looked at under a microscope.
The doctor may carry out a pipelle biopsy to get the sample of cells. S/he puts a small, flexible plastic straw through the vagina and into the uterus, then draws some cells out through the straw and into a syringe.
Sometimes, the doctor may need to get the sample by using a procedure called H and C (hysteroscopy and curettage). The entrance to the uterus (the cervix) is gently stretched open. A thin, flexible instrument called a hysteroscope is passed though the vagina and into the uterus. The doctor can then look inside the uterus for anything unusual and can scrape away some cells from the lining of the uterus. You usually have a general anaesthetic for this, although sometimes it can be done as an outpatient procedure.
