title: Risk and predictors of malignancy in women with endometrial polyps.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Endometrial polyps commonly affect premenopausal and postmenopausal women and carry a small risk of cancer. Consensus guidelines to direct the management of women with endometrial polyps are lacking. We examined the risk of malignancy in symptomatic and asymptomatic women with endometrial polyps.
  
  
  METHODS
  Institutional databases were analyzed to identify women with pathologically confirmed endometrial polyps diagnosed from 2002 to 2007. Demographic, clinical, and pathologic outcomes were reviewed. The most significant pathologic diagnosis was recorded for each subject. Endometrial hyperplasia and cancer were characterized as arising in the polyp or the adjacent endometrium. Factors associated with atypical hyperplasia and cancer were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 1011 women with endometrial polyps were identified. On pathology review, 964 (95.4%) polyps were reported as benign, 13 (1.3%) as hyperplasia without atypia, 5 (0.5%) as hyperplasia with atypia, and 13 (1.3%) as endometrial cancer. The only clinical or demographic factor associated with atypical hyperplasia and cancer was menopausal status (P = .02). Among premenopausal women the risk of cancer or atypical hyperplasia was 0.9% in patients without bleeding and 1.0% in women with bleeding. In postmenopausal women cancer or atypical hyperplasia was found in 1.9% of patients without bleeding and in 3.8% of women with bleeding.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The risk of endometrial cancer in women with endometrial polyps is 1.3%, while cancers confined to a polyp were found in only 0.3%. The risk is greatest in postmenopausal women with vaginal bleeding.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Stephanie L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Wethington
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Herzog
authors.forename: William M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Burke
authors.forename: Xuming
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Jodi P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Lerner
authors.forename: Sharyn N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Lewin
authors.forename: Jason D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Wright
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004714:Endometrial Hyperplasia / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D004717:Endometrium / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011127:Polyps / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D017698:Postmenopause; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D014592:Uterine Hemorrhage