Evaluation of the diagnostic role of transvaginal ultrasound measurements of endometrial thickness to detect endometrial malignancy in asymptomatic postmenopausal women.
Arch Gynecol Obstet
; 294(2): 311-6, 2016 08.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-26946152
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE:
To assess the diagnostic accuracy of endometrial thickness measurements of transvaginal ultrasound (TVUS) in asymptomatic postmenopausal women in the detection of endometrial malignancy.METHODS:
A retrospective cohort study in a university hospital was undertaken with 276 consecutive asymptomatic postmenopausal women undergoing dilatation and curettage (D&C) and hysteroscopy for an incidental finding of thickened endometrium (≥4 mm) between 2003 and 2012. Different endometrial thickness cutoff values were tested on the basis of a pathologic report with carcinoma conditions (endometrial hyperplasia with atypia and endometrial carcinoma).RESULTS:
The mean age of patients was 59.8 ± 9.0 years. The mean duration of menopause was 11.2 ± 8.9 years. The final pathology diagnoses included 107 (38.8 %) patients with polyps, 42 (15.2 %) with atrophic endometrium, 39 (14.1 %) with estrogen exposure, and 19 (6.9 %) with normal endometrium. With regard to carcinoma conditions, nine patients (3.3 %) had endometrial hyperplasia with atypia and eight patients (2.9 %) had endometrial carcinoma. The area under the ROC curve was 0.52 (95 % CI 0.44-0.57), which indicated a poor accuracy of endometrial thickness of TVUS for carcinoma conditions.CONCLUSIONS:
Routine use of endometrial thickness measurement with TVUS does not seem to be an effective diagnostic tool for endometrial cancer because it has a low diagnostic performance in asymptomatic postmenopausal women. Further prospective studies are required to assess the endometrial thickness measurement with TVUS as a screening method in these women.Key words
Full text:
1
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Uterine Hemorrhage
/
Ultrasonography
/
Endometrial Neoplasms
/
Postmenopause
/
Endometrial Hyperplasia
/
Endometrium
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Middle aged
/
Pregnancy
Language:
En
Year:
2016
Type:
Article