Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, Vol 15, Issue 7 513-515, Copyright © 1996 by American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine
Clinical significance of endometrial fluid collections in asymptomatic postmenopausal women
Y. Zalel, R. Tepper, I. Cohen, S. Goldberger and Y. Beyth
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Sapir Medical Center, Kfar-Saba, Israel.
Routine vaginal ultrasonographic evaluation of pelvic organs was performed
in asymptomatic postmenopausal women to evaluate the diagnostic
significance of sonographic findings of endometrial fluid collections in
the presence of a thin endometrium in postmenopausal women. The study
included nine women aged 61 to 79 years who had been postmenopausal for 7
to 30 years, and in whom endometrial fluid collections were incidently
demonstrated. Endometrial samplings followed the ultrasonographic
examinations in all nine patients, and the correlation between the
histologic report and the endometrial ultrasonographic thickness was
evaluated. The diameter of the endometrial fluid collections varied from 3
to 12 mm. The thickness of the endometrium surrounding the fluid ranged
from 1 to 3 mm. Of the nine endometrial samples examined, five revealed
atrophic endometrium, three had insufficient material for histologic
evaluation, and one specimen revealed well-differentiated adenocarcinoma.
The woman in whom endometrial carcinoma was diagnosed underwent total
abdominal hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy and lymph node
sampling. The pathologic examination confirmed the previous histologic
finding, and deep penetration into the myometrium was noticed with intact
lymph nodes. Endometrial fluid collections found in asymptomatic
postmenopausal patients still may be associated with endometrial
malignancy, even in the presence of thin endometrium.
