Endometrial Cancer

Abstract

Endometrial adenocarcinoma is the most common gynecological malignancy and is the fourth most common malignancy in American women. The National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program data documents that 11% of women with endometrial cancer are younger than 50 years old and others have documented that 75% are postmenopausal at the time of diagnosis. Plaxe reports that the increased proportion of high-risk endometrial cancers in African Americans is secondary to a reduction in low-risk disease, not an increase in high-risk disease. Endometrial biopsy has been evaluated for endometrial cancer screening in a number of large clinical case series. There have been no formal cost or cost-effectiveness analyses performed for endometrial cancer screening. Screening techniques to detect endometrial cancer, including ultrasonography and endometrial sampling, have not been demonstrated to be sufficiently accurate, cost-effective or acceptable for general use. Endometrial cancer continues to be an important cause of morbidity and mortality