title: Cytologic evaluation of the endometrium in women with postmenopausal bleeding.
abstract: The records of 143 patients who had postmenopausal bleeding and underwent diagnostic curettage were reviewed. Of these patients 69% had benign endometrial tissue and in 8% there was insufficient tissue for histologic interpretation; 23% of the patients had endometrial carcinoma. In order to ascertain if endometrial cytology could predict which patients which patients may be harboring endometrial carcinoma, a prospective study was carried out on 69 patients complaining of postmenopausal bleeding. Prior to curettage, an endometrial cell sample was obtained with a disposable endometrial cell sampler. The preliminary data indicate good correlation between endometrial cytology and histology. There was one false-negative cytology report and one false positive report. Such a technique could eliminate an endometrial curettage in those patients in whom there is no clinical suspicion of endometrial carcinoma and the cytology is negative.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003475:Curettage; D004717:Endometrium / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008593:Menopause; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014592:Uterine Hemorrhage / Q000473:pathology*; D014594:Uterine Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*