Abnormal endothelium with ectopic endothelium is twice as likely to develop gynecologic malignancies, overall survival compared with endometriosis in a retrospective case-control study (OS) worse.
Of the 515 patients with endometriosis, 40.1% had concurrent cancer compared to 18% of those with endometriosis. The significant association between endosalpingitis and malignancy remained after excluding patients with known or suspected malignancy.
According to multivariate analysis, patients with endosalpingitis had a 1.69 risk of survival compared with patients diagnosed with endometriosis. Aakriti R. Carrubba, MD, and co-author, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, in Gynecologic Oncology.
“With As awareness of ES [endosalping tube disease] increases, future research into this diagnosis is required,” the authors wrote. “Long-term follow-up is critical for assessing distant outcomes, such as cancer development in patients with known endosalpingitis. Without long-term data, we cannot change our approach to patient counseling, screening, and risk reduction programs.”
Tubal endotheliitis manifests as a tubular glandular epithelium that resembles the fallopian tube but occurs outside the fallopian tube. The researchers noted that the condition has a nonspecific presentation and is often identified as an incidental surgical or pathological finding. Among patients undergoing gynecological laparoscopic surgery, the prevalence of endosalpingitis was estimated at 7.6%.
The pathogenesis of endosalpingitis remains unclear, the authors continued. Several studies have linked endosalpingitis with gynecologic malignancies. Whether endosalpingitis is a precancerous condition is unknown.
Carrubba and colleagues conducted a retrospective case-control study to investigate the association between endosalpingitis and concurrent malignancy. They hypothesized that compared with endometriosis, there is a higher chance of co-malignant malignancy in endosalpinx.
Data for this study were obtained from medical records from three academic hospitals in the United States, covering diagnoses from 2000 to 2020. The analysis included 515 cases of endosalpingitis and 452 matched cases of endometriosis. Patients with endosalpingitis were significantly older (52 vs 48 years, PP=0.008). Significantly more patients with endometriosis reported chronic pain (47.0% vs 28.4%, P
Consistent with the working hypothesis, patients with endosalpingitis were significantly more complicated with gynecologic malignancies (P
After excluding patients with known or suspected malignancies, concurrent cancers remained significantly increased (20.9% vs 5.6%, (20.9% vs 5.6%, P
Tubal endotheliitis was associated with significantly worse survival. With a median follow-up of 72.7 months, the estimated 10-year mortality rate was 77% for patients with endometriosis and 90.5% for patients with endometriosis (P
By multivariate analysis, patients with endosalpingitis were more than twice as likely to have concurrent cancer compared with those with endometriosis ( OR 2.48, PP=0.017).
Endosalpingitis is a type of pathological finding that may be normal, said Robert DeBernardo, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic, who was not involved in the study. There are no signs or symptoms.
“It doesn’t have any real clinical significance, so the association is interesting,” he told MedPage Today via email . “However, I doubt the validity of the authors’ conclusions, as this is a retrospective review of cases and compares the association with cancer to the association with endometriosis. In short, given this is a Diagnosis made from surgical specimens, maybe it’s important for the pathologist to say ‘whether this patient has endometrial cancer because I’ve seen endosalpingitis – maybe I should have looked more closely a bit.'”
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Charles Bankhead is the Senior Editor for Oncology and also covers Urology, Dermatology and Ophthalmology. He joined MedPage today in 2007. focus on
DISCLOSURE
Carrubba and co-authors report no conflicts of interest.
DeBernardo reports no relevance.