Liquid-based endometrial cytology associated with curettage in the investigation of endometrial carcinoma in a population of 1987 women

Recent advances in the management of postmenopausal women with non-atypical endometrial hyperplasia

Non-atypical endometrial hyperplasia is a benign disease without significant somatic genetic changes. Postmenopausal women with non-atypical endometrial hyperplasia have a significant risk of progression to endometrial cancer and persistent endometrial hyperplasia. Most cases of atypical endometrial hyperplasia in postmenopausal women are treated surgically, including hysterectomy. At present, the treatment of postmenopausal women with non-atypical endometrial hyperplasia is still controversial. Correct and timely diagnosis and treatment are of great significance to prevent progression of the lesion. This study mainly provides an updated synthesis of the literature that investigates the etiology, diagnosis and treatment of postmenopausal women with non-atypical endometrial hyperplasia. As of December 2022, a literature search related to postmenopausal non-atypical endometrial hyperplasia was conducted on the PubMed database. For most postmenopausal patients with non-atypical endometrial hyperplasia, regular re-examination should be performed during conservative treatment. For postmenopausal patients with endometrial cancer risk factors, persistent non-atypical endometrial hyperplasia or progesterone contraindications, hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy should be the first choice.

A study evaluating liquid-based endometrial cytology test and transvaginal ultrasonography as a screening tool for endometrial cancer in 570 postmenopausal women

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the combination of transvaginal ultrasonography (TVS) and endometrial cytology test (ECT) as a potential diagnostic strategy for endometrial cancer and endometrial precancerous lesions in postmenopausal patients.

METHODS

570 postmenopausal patients admitted in our hospital due to abnormal bleeding or other symptoms and/or with endometrium thickness over 5 mm on ultrasound. The endometrial thickness was evaluated by TVS. Following obtainment with written consent, all patients underwent ECT, hysteroscopy and then dilatation and curettage (D&C). Cytological sampling was conducted by scratching the uterus cavity using SAP-1 and the samples were prepared as liquid-based smear using SurePath technology. The samples were stained using Papanicolaou method. The correlation between cytological diagnosis and TVS results with the D&C histological diagnosis was analyzed. The WHO classification was used for diagnosis.

RESULTS

Sensitivity of ECT, TVS, ECT or TVS positive, ECT and TVS positive to diagnose atypical hyperplasia or worse were estimated at 80.7%, 86.8%, 97.4%, 70.2%, specificity at 94.7%, 20.4%, 17.5%, 88.4%, positive predictive value at 58.2%, 21.1%, 22.8%, 60.2%, negative predictive value at 94.4%, 86.1%, 96.4%, 92.2%, and accuracy at 84.6%, 33.7%, 33.5%, 84.7%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Transvaginal ultrasonography and Endometrial cytology test may be regarded as a effective first-line method in endometrial pathology detection in postmenopausal women.

Is endometrial sampler SAP-1 a good way to diagnose the common intrauterine occupying lesions?-A diagnostic study

Background

Intrauterine occupying lesion is clinically common in the female reproductive organs. Endometrial cancer is the most critical one among intrauterine occupying lesions, which accordingly is considered as the main indication for endometrial cancer screening, for which endometrial sampler SAP-1 was recommended as an effective sampling tool.

Objective

This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of SAP-1 for endometrial polyp and uterine submucous myoma.

Materials and Methods

From August 2018 to June 2022, patients who were hospitalized for undergoing hysteroscopy examination were enrolled in this study. Before the procedure, endometrial samples were collected by the method of SAP-1. The histological results were compared with those by hysteroscopy sampling to analyze the diagnostic efficacy of SAP-1.

Results

The qualified rate for the SAP-1 sampling was 92.1%, which is a bit lower than that by method of hysteroscopy (95.3%). And the difference was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Endometrial polyp (47.5%) and uterine submucous myoma (7.1%) accounted for the majority of endometrial lesions, while only 11.3% endometrial polyps (17/151) and 0% submucous myomas (0/23) were detected by SAP-1 sampling.

Conclusion

Endometrial sampler SAP-1 is not effective in detection of solid intrauterine lesions indicated by the imaging examination. Hysteroscopy is recommended for definite diagnosis.

Screening of Endometrial Cancer Related to Lynch Syndrome in China by Suction Curettage-Based Cytology and Histology: A Retrospective Study

Objective

To explore the feasibility of sampling Chinese patients by suction curettage for cytological and histological screening of endometrial cancer related to Lynch syndrome.

Methods

This retrospective study enrolled patients who underwent endometrial biopsy at our hospital between May 2018 and January 2019. Endometrial sampling (cytological and micro-histological specimens) was conducted by suction curettage. The gold standard for diagnosis was traditional sharp dilation and curettage (D&C). The sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy of cytology, micro-histology, and the combination of cytology and micro-histology were calculated. Additionally, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to evaluate the diagnostic efficiency of three screening methods. Mismatch repair proteins were further detected using immunohistochemistry (IHC) in endometrial cancer.

Results

This retrospective finally enrolled 100 patients, which satisfactory samples were obtained from 96 patients for liquid-based cytology and 93 patients for microtissue histology. The concordance rates with D&C, sensitivity, and specificity were 94.8%, 76.9%, and 97.5% for liquid-based cytology, 96.8%, 84.6%, and 98.8% for microtissue histology, and 99.0%, 92.3%, and 100.0% for liquid-based cytology and microtissue histology combined, respectively. The AUC of ROC curves in liquid-based cytology, microtissue histology, and the combined methods for diagnostic ability were 0.873, 0.917, and 0.962, respectively. Absence rates of MLHl, MSH2, MSH6, and PMS2 proteins were 15.3% (2/13), 0% (0/13), 7.7% (1/13), and 15.3% (2/13) in the 13 endometrial cancer samples.

Conclusion

Liquid-based cytology and microtissue histology samples from suction curettage combined IHC are useful for endometrial cancer screening.

Endometrial Cytology in Diagnosis of Endometrial Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Diagnostic Accuracy

BACKGROUND

Because the incidence of endometrial cancer has been increasing every year, it is important to identify an effective screening method for it. The endometrial cytology test (ECT) is considered to be the more acceptable technique compared to invasive endometrial sampling.

METHODS

The study followed the Priority Reporting Project for Systematic Evaluation and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA-DTA) protocol. This systematic rating searched EMBASE and Web of Science databases for studies on ECT for endometrial cancer from the databases' dates of inception to 30 September 2022. All literature screening and data extraction were performed by two researchers, while the methodological quality of the included studies was assessed against defined inclusion criteria. And a third researcher resolves the disagreements.

RESULTS

Twenty-six studies were eventually included in this final analysis. Meta-analysis results showed that the diagnostic accuracy characteristics of ECT for endometrial cancer were as follows: combined sensitivity = 0.84 [95% confidence interval (CI) (0.83-0.86)], combined specificity = 0.98 [95% CI (0.98-0.98)], combined positive likelihood ratio = 34.65 [95% CI (20.90-57.45)], combined negative likelihood ratio = 0.21 [95% CI (0.15-0.30)], and area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.9673.

CONCLUSIONS

ECT had the ability to detect endometrial cancer with strong specificity, although some studies have demonstrated significant differences in sensitivity.

Endometrial cancer

Endometrial cancer is the most common gynaecological cancer in high income countries and its incidence is rising globally. Although an ageing population and fewer benign hysterectomies have contributed to this trend, the growing prevalence of obesity is the major underlying cause. Obesity poses challenges for diagnosis and treatment and more research is needed to offer primary prevention to high-risk women and to optimise endometrial cancer survivorship. Early presentation with postmenopausal bleeding ensures most endometrial cancers are cured by hysterectomy but those with advanced disease have a poor prognosis. Minimally invasive surgical staging and sentinel-lymph-node biopsy provides a low morbidity alternative to historical surgical management without compromising oncological outcomes. Adjuvant radiotherapy reduces loco-regional recurrence in intermediate-risk and high-risk cases. Advances in our understanding of the molecular biology of endometrial cancer have paved the way for targeted chemotherapeutic strategies, and clinical trials will establish their benefit in adjuvant, advanced, and recurrent disease settings in the coming years.

Tao brush endometrial cytology is a sensitive diagnostic tool for cancer and hyperplasia among women presenting to clinic with abnormal uterine bleeding

BACKGROUND

Abnormal uterine bleeding requires the investigation of the endometrium. Histology is typically used but there remains room for the improvement and use of cytology.

METHODS

Women presenting for clinically indicated office endometrial biopsy were prospectively enrolled. Tao endometrial brushing and office endometrial biopsy were performed, and surgical procedure if clinically indicated. Tao brush cytology specimens were blindly reviewed by up to three pathologists, consensus obtained, and scored as: benign, atypical (favor benign), suspicious, positive for malignancy, or non-diagnostic. Cytology and histology were compared to surgical pathology to determine sensitivity, specificity, positive, and negative predictive values to detect AH (atypical hyperplasia) or EC (endometrial cancer).

RESULTS

Clinical indications of 197 enrolled patients included postmenopausal bleeding (90, 45.7%), abnormal uterine bleeding (94, 47.7%), and abnormal endometrium on ultrasound without bleeding (13, 6.6%). Of the 197 patients, 185 (93.9%) had cytology score consensus and a total of 196 (99.5%) had consensus regarding cytology positivity. Surgical pathology diagnoses (N = 85) were 13 (15.3%) FIGO grade 1 or 2 EC, 3 (3.5%) AH, and 69 (81.2%) benign endometrium. Sensitivity and specificity to detect EC or AH were 93.7% and 100%, respectively, via endometrial biopsy; 87.5% and 63.8%, respectively, via endometrial cytology when scores of malignancy, suspicious, or atypical were considered positive.

CONCLUSIONS

In a high-risk population, Tao brush endometrial cytology showed high sensitivity to detect AH and EC comparable to biopsy histology when considering scores of malignancy, suspicious, atypical, and non-diagnostic. Revisiting the potential value of endometrial cytology in the contemporary era of endometrial diagnostic workup is warranted.

Comprehensive approach to diagnostic cytology in endometrial pathology (review of literature)

A cytological examination of uterine cavity material has proven to be the effective method of detecting and clarifying the diagnosis of cancer and non-tumor endometrial diseases. However, sometimes there are difficulties in interpreting the results in a traditional (classical) cytological examination, due to high level of inadequate samples: the presence of mucus, a large number of blood elements, structures of poorly visible cells in the wrong preparation of the smear. At present, the method of liquid cytology, based on the technology of preparation of standard thin-layer cytological preparations from liquid cell suspension, is increasingly developed and widespread. These slides, if necessary, can be used for morphometry, cytochemical, immunocytochemical studies etc. It is also possible to prepare cell blocks from this material, and to obtain information about the histological structure if small pieces of tissue are presented in cytological material, moreover, to use these blocks for immunohistochemical reactions. Material from the uterine cavity may contain tumor cells from ovarian, tubal or other non- endometrial carcinoma, and it is necessary to obtain information about their origin, to verify the morphological diagnosis and to determine the management and treatment of patients, as a lot of problems concerning ovarian and endometrial cancer remains unclear. Examination of aspirates and scrapes from the uterine cavity using advanced molecular techniques, together with existing examination methods, can help to form risk groups for uterine, tubal, ovarian and even peritoneal tumors. The review of literature contains comparative characteristics of different methods and their combinations, which allow improving diagnostics of non-tumor lesions and endometrial tumors.

A Clinical Comparative Study of Two Different Endometrial Cell Samplers for Evaluation of Endometrial Lesions by Cytopathological Diagnosis

Purpose

Cytopathology detecting for endometrial cancer is becoming accepted, and Tao Brush is the most widely used sampler for endometrial cells. This study aims to compare the effectiveness between Li brushes and Tao brushes for the diagnosis of endometrial lesions and to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of endometrial cytology compared with histology.

Methods

There were 109 patients needing dilation and curettage (D&C) and 21 patients needing hysterectomies included from November 2017 to April 2018. Every patient was sampled by Tao brush and Li brush before D&C or hysterectomy performed. The cytological results were compared based on the gold standard histological results of D&C or hysterectomy.

Results

The sensitivity of Li brush cytology for detecting endometrial cancer and atypical hyperplasia was estimated at 83.33%, specificity at 100%, positive predictive value (PPV) at 100%, and negative predictive value (NPV) at 98.02%, respectively. While for the Tao brush, it was 91.67% of sensitivity, 96.04% of specificity, 73.33% of PPV, and 98.98% of NPV, respectively. The kappa value was 0.767, which indicated a substantial agreement. Cytology by both two brushes had a lower insufficient sample rate (2.75% of Tao brush, 4.59% of Li brush) than did D&C (11.93%).

Discussion

Endometrial cytology is a reliable approach for evaluating endometrium with a lower insufficient sample rate. Cytology sampled by both Li brushes and Tao brushes has a high accuracy with histological diagnosis in detecting endometrial cancer and atypical hyperplasia. Combining social and economic benefits, the Li brush may be a better endometrial cell collector.

Endometrial Cytology as a Method to Improve the Accuracy of Diagnosis of Endometrial Cancer: Case Report and Meta-Analysis

More and more researchers have reported that dilatation and curettage (D&C) or Pipelle had low accuracy, high misdiagnosis, and insufficient rate. Endometrial cytology is often compared with histology and seems to be an efficient method for the diagnosis of endometrial disorders, especially endometrial cancer. We report a case of misdiagnosed endometrial cancer by D&C, but with a positive cytopathological finding. Following that, a meta-analysis including 4,179 patients of endometrial diseases with cyto-histopathological results was performed to assess the value of the endometrial cytological method in endometrial cancer diagnosis. The pooled sensitivity and specificity of the cytological method in detecting endometrial atypical hyperplasia or cancer was 0.91[95% confidence interval (CI) 0.74-0.97] and 0.96 (95% CI 0.90-0.99), respectively. The pooled positive likelihood ratio and negative likelihood ratio was 25.4 (95% CI 8.1-80.1) and 0.10 (95% CI 0.00-0.30), respectively. The diagnostic odds ratio which was usually used to evaluate the diagnostic test performance reached 260 (95% CI 36-1905). So we recommend that D&C and Pipelle are still practical procedures to evaluate the endometrium, cytological examinations should be utilized as an additional endometrial assessment method.

Liquid Biopsy in Endometrial Cancer: New Opportunities for Personalized Oncology

The identification of new molecular targets and biomarkers associated with high risk of recurrence and response to therapy represents one of the main clinical challenges in the management of advanced disease in endometrial cancer. In this sense, the field of liquid biopsy has emerged as a great revolution in oncology and is considered "the way" to reach personalised medicine. In this review, we discuss the promising but already relatively limited advances of liquid biopsy in endometrial cancer compared to other types of tumours like breast, colorectal or prostate cancer. We present recent data analysing circulating tumour material in minimally-invasive blood samples, but also in alternative forms of liquid biopsy like uterine aspirates. Proteomic and genomic studies focused on liquid-based uterine samples are resulting not only in optimal diagnostic tools but also in reliable approaches to address tumour heterogeneity. Likewise, circulating tumour cells (CTCs) and circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) represent an opportunity for the correct stratification of patients, for the assessment of early recurrent disease or for the real-time monitoring of therapy responses. Appropriately designed studies and implementation in clinical trials will determine the value of liquid biopsy for precision oncology in endometrial cancer.

Cytological assessment of endometrial washings obtained with Karman cannula using a liquid-based preparation method for the detection of endometrial pathologies

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy and utility of liquid-based cytology in ThinPrep (Cytyc Corporation, Boxborough, MA) for endometrial lesions in patients presenting with abnormal uterine bleeding.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Two hundred and thirteen women scheduled for dilatation and curettage because of abnormal uterine bleeding were enrolled in the study. After providing informed consent, all the women proceeded sequentially to endometrial cytology and then dilatation and curettage.

RESULTS

In the premenopausal group, cytological failure was 4.8%, histopathological failure was 2.4%; cytologic insufficiency in the postmenopausal group was 2.1%, and histopathologic insufficiency was 19.6%. When cytologic and histopathological sufficiency rates were compared in all cases, cytologic insufficiency was 4.2% and histopathologic insufficiency was 6.1%. This difference was statistically significant (p < 0.039). The diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of the liquid-based endometrial cytology for premenopausal patients were 96.79, 58.33, 97.92, 70, and 96.58%, respectively. In the postmenopausal cases, the accuracy of diagnosis of endometrial cytology was 97.30%, sensitivity 100%, specificity 96.67%, PPV 87.50%, and NPV 100%. When cytologic and histopathologically inadequate cases were excluded, no cytologic and histopathological abnormal findings were found in endometrial thickness cutoff ≤ 5 mm for all patients.

CONCLUSION

The use of liquid-based cytology with TVS may contribute to increasing the diagnostic accuracy of the test and reduce unnecessary D&C for women. When TVS is used as a triage indicator, regardless of menopausal status in ≤ 5 mm endometrial thickness cases, endometrial cytology is an absolutely reliable method for detecting cancer.