Clinical and histopathological characteristics in patients with postmenopausal bleeding

• Published in: Archive of oncology Vol. 21; no. 1; pp. 5 - 10
• Main Authors: Mandic, Aljosa, Gutic, Bojana, Kapicl-Ivkovic, Tatjana, Segedi-Mladenovic, Ljiljana, Mocko-Kacanski, Mihaela
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Institute of Oncology, Sremska Kamenica, Serbia 2013
• Subjects: Curettage; Endometrial Neoplasms; Histological Techniques; Postmenopause; Risk Factors; Ultrasonography; Uterine Hemorrhage
• ISSN: 0354-7310; 1450-9520
• DOI: 10.2298/AOO1301005M

Background: Incidence of endometrial carcinoma in Vojvodina is 15-20/100 000.
In 75% cases, endometrial carcinoma is diagnosed in postmenopausal period. In
90 % of patients, the first clinical sign is postmenopausal bleeding. The aim
of the study was to investigate clinical and histopathological
characteristics in patients with postmenopausal bleeding. Methods: The study
included 122 patients with postmenopausal bleeding. All of these patients
underwent gynecological examination and vaginal ultrasound. We obtained
materials for histopathological analysis by fractionate explorative
curettage. Once we had definitive histopathological findings, we divided
patients in two groups A (endometrial carcinoma) and B (benign changes).
Results: We confirmed significant statistical differences between examined
group A and B, including age (64.49 compared with 58.81 years),
postmenopausal period (13.67 instead 9.11 years), and length of uterine
corpus (6.41 instead 5.25 cm). Conclusion: Elderly women with longer
postmenopausal interval and postmenopausal bleeding had increased risk for
endometrial carcinoma. Measurement of endometrial thickness by transvaginal
ultrasound appeared to be insufficient parameter for differentiating the
benign from the malignant changes of endometrium. Patients with endometrial
carcinoma had significantly longer corpus of uterus comparing to patients
with benign changes. Body mass index was not found to be significant risk
factor in development of endometrial carcinoma in the examined groups.
Obesity was diagnosed in both groups, suggesting that increased body mass
index is a risk factor for development of pathological changes in
endometrium, which could lead to postmenopausal bleeding.
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