Risk of ovarian cancer for women with endometriosis

Wednesday February 22nd, 2012

Endometriosis, suffered by many women, may be linked to a raised risk of ovarian cancer, researchers warn today.

About four per cent of women have endometriosis which can cause pelvic pain and infertility. It is thought to be caused by endometrial tissue migrating through the fallopian tubes and may be triggered by an altered immune response.

It has previously been associated with an increased risk of invasive epithelial ovarian cancer, the most dangerous cancer of the female reproductive system.

Dr Celeste Leigh Pearce of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA, and colleagues looked at whether this risk applies to all subtypes of ovarian cancer. They took figures from 13 studies of ovarian cancer involving 13,226 healthy women and 7,911 women with invasive ovarian cancer.

Endometriosis was associated with a significantly increased risk of clear-cell, low-grade serous, and endometrioid invasive ovarian cancers, say the experts. But no association was found between endometriosis and risk of mucinous or high-grade serous invasive ovarian cancer, or borderline tumours of these two subtypes.

Details appear in the Lancet Oncology today (February 22). The authors state: "Clinicians should be aware of the increased risk of specific subtypes of ovarian cancer in women with endometriosis.

"Future efforts should focus on understanding the mechanisms that might lead to malignant transformation of endometriosis so as to help identify subsets of women at increased risk of ovarian cancer."

Dr Pearce said: "This breakthrough could lead to better identification of women at increased risk of ovarian cancer and could provide a basis for increased cancer surveillance of the relevant population, allowing better individualisation of prevention and early detection approaches such as risk-reduction surgery and screening."

Writing in the journal, Charlie Gourley, of the University of Edinburgh Cancer Research UK Centre, Scotland, says there is enough evidence in the study to consider screening women with endometriosis.

Association between endometriosis and risk of histological subtypes of ovarian cancer: a pooled analysis of case control studies. Pearce, C. L. et al. The Lancet Oncology February 22 2012 doi:10.1016/S1470-2045(11)70404-1

Tags: Cancer | North America | UK News | Women’s Health & Gynaecology

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