Alper BAŞBUĞ, Ozan DOĞAN, Murat YASSA, Cigdem PULATOGLU, Aşkı ELLİBEŞ KAYA, Eray ÇALIŞKAN

Relationship between adnexal mass and endometrial thickness in postmenopausal period

Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecological cancer. Increased postmenopausal endometrial thickness may be an indicator of endometrial cancer. Transvaginal ultrasound (TV-USG) is the primary imaging method for evaluating endometrial thickness in the postmenopausal period. The aim was to employ transvaginal ultrasonography in the evaluation of adnexal masses synchronously seen in postmenopausal women with increased endometrial thickness. The work was designed as a retrospective study. The medical records of 155 patients evaluated for increased postmenopausal endometrial thickness were examined. Ultrasonography had been performed on the women in the study for routine follow-up, postmenopausal hemorrhage, pelvic pain, pelvic mass on examination and family history of gynecological cancer. All patients had undergone endometrial evaluation with fractional dilatation and curettage (D & C) or pipelle endometrial sampling. Histopathological diagnosis was based on endometrial sampling results. Adnexal mass was present simultaneously in 17.4% (n = 27) of the women included in the study, while 82.6% (n = 128) had no gynecological pathology other than increased endometrial thickness. The endometrial thickness in the women with postmenopausal adnexal masses was greater than in those without adnexal mass (11.7 mm vs. 7.8 mm, p = 0.009). Non-atypical and atypical endometrial hyperplasia was more frequent in the group with postmenopausal adnexal mass (11.1% vs. 2.8%, 11.1% vs. 3.79, p = 0.03, p = 0.04, respectively). Final histopathological evaluation of patients operated on for adnexal masses revealed tubo-ovarian abscess in 1.9% (n = 1), benign ovarian tumor in 25.9% (n = 7) and malignant ovarian tumor in 11.1% (n = 3) of the patients. In postmenopausal women, adnexal masses can be seen simultaneously with increased endometrial thickness. In this regard, transvaginal ultrasound offers important opportunities for evaluation of both the endometrium and adnexa. Pre-surgery transvaginal ultrasound as well as multivariate serum markers may be used in evaluation models.

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