Histopathologic assessment of the entire endometrium in asymptomatic women.
Knowledge on the nature of the endometrium in women without symptoms of endometrial disease is poor. Therefore, the aim of this prospective study was to describe the endometrium of a cohort of asymptomatic women. The entire endometrium of premenopausal and postmenopausal women was embedded for histologic examination. All included patients underwent a hysterectomy on indication of uterovaginal prolapse, from July 2011 to October 2012, in 3 hospitals in the South of the Netherlands. Exclusion criteria were symptoms of postmenopausal vaginal blood loss or premenopausal disordered vaginal bleeding. As a result, 68 women were included in the study, 48 women were postmenopausal and 20 were premenopausal. In the endometrium of 10 women, simple hyperplasia was found (15%); 1, complex hyperplasia (2%); 2, simple atypical hyperplasia (3%); 2, complex atypical hyperplasia (3%); and 2, a small focus of intramucosal endometrioid endometrial carcinoma (3%). In general, the endometrium was heterogeneous, and most lesions were not present in the entire endometrium. In conclusion, after examining the entire endometrium, a remarkable high prevalence of endometrial pathology was found in asymptomatic women. The clinical meaning of these lesions is not yet clear, but endometrial pathology may frequently exist without symptoms.
Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology (791), Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Electronic address: m.mingels@obgyn.umcn.nl.
Marjanka J J M
MJ
Mingels
Yvette P
YP
Geels
Johanna M A
JM
Pijnenborg
Anneke A
AA
van der Wurff
Angela A G
AA
van Tilborg
Maaike A P C
MA
van Ham
Leon F A G
LF
Massuger
Johan
J
Bulten
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015897:Comorbidity; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology; D004714:Endometrial Hyperplasia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*; D004717:Endometrium / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology; D007044:Hysterectomy; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D017698:Postmenopause; D017697:Premenopause; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014596:Uterine Prolapse / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*
Atypical hyperplasia; Endometrial neoplasia; Endometrium; Histopathology; Hysterectomy; Uterine prolapse