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DOI: 10.5146/tjpath.2022.01570 |
Clinical Significance of Endometrial Cells in Pap Smear of Women Aged 40 Years and Older |
Esra KELEŞ1, Uğur Kemal ÖZTÜRK1, Cihat Murat ALINCA1, Serkan AKIŞ1, Canan KABACA1, Handan ÇETINER2 |
1Department of Gynecologic Oncology, Zeynep Kamil Training and Research Hospital, ISTANBUL, TURKEY 2Department of Pathology, University of Health Sciences, Zeynep Kamil Training and Research Hospital, ISTANBUL, TURKEY |
Keywords:
Endometrial cells, Endometrial cancer, Papanicolaou (Pap) test, The Bethesda System |
Objective: To investigate the histopathological follow-up results in women diagnosed with endometrial cells in the Papanicolaou (Pap) test.
Material and Method: Between January 2013 to December 2018, women with endometrial cells on the Pap test were searched from the hospital
electronic database. The patients with endometrial cells on the Pap test who underwent further histopathological evaluation and who were
followed-up for at least 1 year were enrolled in the study, while those who had a Pap test result other than endometrial cells, were lost during
follow-up, or had missing data were excluded.
Results: Out of 91,142 Pap smears, 121 (0.1%) cytologically had endometrial cells, and of those 65 cases were eligible for final analysis. The mean
age of patients with premalignant/malignant lesions (57.7 ± 2.9) was higher than those with benign lesions (50.1 ± 0.7), with 77% of them in
the postmenopausal period. Gynecologic premalignant/malignant lesions were detected in 9 (17.7%) patients including 2 (3.1%) endometrial
hyperplasias and 7 (10.8%) endometrial cancers. The menopausal status (p=0.010) and being 50 years and older (p=0.002) were significantly
associated with pre-neoplastic or neoplastic changes in patients with endometrial cells.
Conclusion: The presence of endometrial cells in Pap tests may be a harbinger of endometrial pathologies, especially at the age of 50 years and
over. The menopausal status is another possible determinant in detecting endometrial carcinoma. Further investigation may be suggested in
women aged ≥50 years and postmenopausal in the event of endometrial cell detection.
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