The clinical usefulness of the endometrial cytology using Masubuchi's aspiration tubes in ovarian and fallopian tube cancer.

Endometrial Aspiration Cytology for Diagnosis of Peritoneal Lesions in Extrauterine Malignancies

“…This is in basic agreement with the positive rate on endometrial aspiration cytology obtained in previous studies conducted in Japan of 13.6% by Takeshima et al 7 positive rate among stage III or IV patients was relatively high, confirming the findings of previous studies. 1,7,12 Furthermore, the positive rate among patients with mucinous adenocarcinomas in ovarian cancer was significantly lower than that among patients with other histologic types. Differences in the positive rate among histologic types are reportedly related to the degree of intercellular adhesion in ovarian cancer tissue, 7 and further investigations are necessary.…”

“…This rate is higher than that among the ovarian cancer patients in the present study or that among ovarian cancer patients in previous studies. 7,14 The high positive rate on endometrial aspiration cytology might be attributable to the fact that 70% of the fallopian tube cancer patients in the present study displayed cancer of stage III or above, suggesting that endometrial aspiration cytology can be extremely use- ful for preoperative diagnosis of advanced fallopian tube cancer. Among the 30 patients who were referred to the department of gynecology for the preoperative systemic examination and who had primary stomach cancer accompanying ovarian metastasis in our study, endometrial aspiration cytology was positive in 17 patients, and in all 7 patients the diagnosis of stomach cancer was made before the surgery, the stomach cancer was advanced (stage IV) and peritoneal fluid retention was confirmed, suggesting that positive endometrial cytology represents cancerous peritonitis.…”

“…1,7,12 Furthermore, the positive rate among patients with mucinous adenocarcinomas in ovarian cancer was significantly lower than that among patients with other histologic types. Differences in the positive rate among histologic types are reportedly related to the degree of intercellular adhesion in ovarian cancer tissue, 7 and further investigations are necessary. Furthermore, in normal-sized ovarian cancer, diffuse metastasis occurs without ovarian enlargement and retention of peritoneal fluid can thus lead to various symptoms associated with cancerous peritonitis.…”

“…1,7 Since this test can be easily performed with minimal invasiveness, it is widely performed in screening for endometrial cancer in Japan. Because peritoneal cells can be collected through the fallopian tube, endometrial aspiration cytology is useful for the diagnosis of peritoneal lesions, including ovarian cancer, in the absence of uterine invasion or metastasis, 5,6,10 allowing preoperative ascertainment of the presence of malignant cells.…”

“…Various studies have shown that endometrial cytology is a useful routine test for ovarian cancer screening. [5][6][7] Furthermore, due to the sample collection technique, endometrial cytology reportedly facilitates early detection of peritoneal lesions such as stomach and breast cancers. 8,9 In the present study, we investigated the usefulness of endometrial aspiration cytology for assessing not only ovarian and fallopian tube cancers but also peritoneal lesions, including surgically treated breast and gastrointestinal malignancies.…”