Abstract
Case report
In this paper we describe a case of endometrial carcinoma observed in a post-menopausal patient who was treated with tamoxifen for 5 years after a mastectomy for cancer. She came to our department because of vaginal bleeding 2 years after the end of tamoxifen treatment.
Treatment
She underwent hysteroscopy and a D and C. A polypoid endometrium completely filled the uterine cavity and was carefully removed by curettage; histology showed a highly undifferentiated neoplasia with a component of serous adenocarcinoma, which was likely to originate from endometrial polyps.
Outcome
The patient underwent radical hysterectomy, but no residual tumor was found in the uterus or in the tubes, ovary, or pelvic nodes, in spite of its low differentiation grade and high potential aggressiveness, and even though the patient was already symptomatic. Two years after surgery the patient is disease free, which is consistent with the evaluation of the surgical specimen, but unusual in poorly differentiated neoplasms.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abeler VM, Kjorstad KE (1990) Serous papillary carcinoma of the endometrium: a histopathological study of 22 cases. Gynecol Oncol 39:266–271
Berezowsky J, Chalvardjian A, Murray D (1994) Iatrogenic endometrial megapolyps in women with breast carcinoma. Obstet Gynecol 84:727–730
Christopherson WM, Alberhasky RC, Connelly PJ (1982) Carcinoma of the endometrium: a clinicopathologic study of clear-cell carcinoma and secretory carcinoma. Cancer 49:1511–1523
Cohen J, Shapira J, Altaras M, Cordoba M, Rosen D, Beyth V (1992) Endometrial decidual changes in a postmenopausal woman treated with tamoxifen and megestrol acetate. Br J Obstet Gynecol 99:773–774
Fanning J, Evans MC, Peters AJ, Samuel M, Harmon ER, Bates JS (1989) Endometrial adenocarcinoma histologic subtypes: clinical and pathological profile. Gynecol Oncol 32:288–291
Hendrickson M, Ross J, Eifel P et al (1982) Uterine papillary serous carcinoma: a highly malignant form of endometrial adenocarcinoma. Am J Surg Pathol 6:93–108
Ismail SM (1994) Pathology of endometrium treated with tamoxifen. J Clin Pathol 47:827–833
Lampe B, Kurzl R, Hantschmann P (1994) Prognostic factors that predict pelvic lymph node metastasis from endometrial carcinoma. Cancer 74:2502–2508
Malfetano JH (1990) Tamoxifen-associated endometrial carcinoma in postmenopausal breast cancer patients. Gynecol Oncol 37:82–84
Silva EG, Tornos CS, Follen-Mitchell M (1994) Malignant neoplasm of the uterine corpus in patients treated for breast carcinoma: the effects of tamoxifen. Int J Gynecol Pathol 13:248–258
Takeshima N, Hirai Y, Tanaka N (1996) Pelvic lymph node metastasis in endometrial cancer with no myometrial invasion. Obstet Gynecol 88:280–282
Thomas E, Kauppila A, Blanco G, Apaja-Sarkkinen M, Laatikainen T (1995) Comparison between the effects of tamoxifen and toremifene on the uterus in postmenopausal breast cancer patients. Gynecol Oncol 59:261–266
Yokoyama Y, Maruyama H, Sato S, Saito Y (1997) Indispensability of pelvic and paraaortic lymphoadenectomy in endometrial cancers. Gynecol Oncol 64:411–417
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Marchesoni, D., Driul, L., Mozzanega, B. et al. Intraepithelial G3 adenocarcinoma of the endometrium after tamoxifen treatment. Arch Gynecol Obstet 271, 62–65 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-004-0668-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-004-0668-0