Is Endosalpingiosis Associated With Higher Rates of Ovarian Cancer?
Posted: Wednesday, June 3, 2020
A study published in Cancer Epidemiology has identified a potential link between histologically diagnosed endosalpingiosis and ovarian cancer. According to Marjolein Hermens, MD, of Catharina Hospital, Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and colleagues, the association between this condition in which fallopian tube–like epithelium is found outside the fallopian tube and ovarian cancer appears to be most pronounced with endometrioid and clear cell subtypes.
“It is important for pathologists to report endosalpingiosis accurately, and for gynecologists to be more aware of the increased association of ovarian cancer in women with endosalpingiosis,” stated the authors.
A total of 2,490 women with a histologic diagnosis of endosalpingiosis between 1990 and 2015 from the Dutch nationwide registry of histopathology and cytopathology were identified and matched by age and year of diagnosis to a control group of women registered in the same pathology database. The histology results for cancer of the ovaries, fallopian tubes, and peritoneum between 1990 and 2017 for both cohorts of women were also retrieved.
Of the women with endosalpingiosis, 1,005 of them (40.4%) had concurrent endometriosis. The age-adjusted incidence rate ratio for ovarian cancer in patients with endosalpingiosis, including those with concurrent endometriosis, was 43.7. When women with concurrent endometriosis were excluded, the age-adjusted incidence rate ratio was 38.8.
The most significant association was observed in women diagnosed with clear cell and endometrioid ovarian cancer subtypes, with an age-adjusted incidence rate ratio of 107.6 and 169.7, respectively. The incidence rate ratios were 2.4 and 1.8, respectively, when synchronously diagnosed cancer (within 6 months of the diagnosis of endosalpingiosis) were excluded.
Disclosure: The authors reported no conflicts of interest.
