The role of endometrial thickness for detecting endometrial pathologies in asymptomatic postmenopausal women.
BACKGROUND
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the significance of endometrial sampling in asymptomatic, bleeding-free postmenopausal women who have endometrial thickness greater or equal to 5 mm.


METHODS
A retrospective review was conducted of all women who underwent transvaginal ultrasonography between January 2000 and March 2009 in a menopause clinic, who were found to have an endometrial thickness of at least 5 mm and who were subjected to endometrial sampling.


RESULTS
Five hundred and thirty asymptomatic postmenopausal women underwent ultrasonographic evaluation with subsequent endometrial sampling. The mean endometrial stripe thickness was 8.7 mm (range: 6-26). Five cases of adenocarcinoma (0.9%) and 65 (12.2%) cases of simple/complex atypical hyperplasia were diagnosed.


CONCLUSIONS
In this study, 106 investigations were performed to detect one case of adenocarcinoma. Although this is a high number per case detection of endometrial adenocarcinoma, considering the rising incidence of endometrial cancer, large prospective trials with surrogate criteria for asymptomatic women are needed to investigate the importance of thickened endometrial stripe in postmenopausal women.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Dokuz Eylul University Faculty of Medicine, Balcova, Izmir.
Bahadir
B
Saatli
Nuri
N
Yildirim
Safak
S
Olgan
Meral
M
Koyuncuoglu
Ozlen
O
Emekci
Ugur
U
Saygılı
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001706:Biopsy; D004714:Endometrial Hyperplasia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D004717:Endometrium / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D017698:Postmenopause; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014463:Ultrasonography
asymptomatic; endometrial thickness; postmenopausal