• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.10
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• pp.5935-5939
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• 2013

Our study is to determine the presence of endometrial intraepithelial neoplasia (EIN) in endometrial biopsy specimens classified by the 1994 World Health Organization (WHO) criteria for endometrial hyperplasia. Endometrial biopsy specimens that were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE) were examined and categorized by the WHO 1994 criteria and for the presence of EIN as defined by the International Endometrial Collaborative Group. ${\beta}$-catenin expression was examined by immunohistochemistry. A total of 474 cases of HE stained endometrial biopsy tissues were reviewed. There were 379 cases of simple endometrial hyperplasia, 16 with simple atypical endometrial hyperplasia, 48 with complex endometrial hyperplasia, and 31 with complex atypical endometrial hyperplasia. Among the 474 endometrial hyperplasia cases, there were 46 (9.7%) that were classified as EIN. Of these 46 cases, 11(2.9%) were classified as simple endometrial hyperplasia, 1 (6.3%) as simple atypical endometrial hyperplasia, 6 (12.5%) as complex endometrial hyperplasia, and 28 (90.3%) as complex atypical endometrial hyperplasia. EIN was associated with a higher rate of ${\beta}$-catenin positivity than endometrium classified as benign hyperplasia (72% vs. 22.5%, respectively, P<0.001), but a lower rate than endometrial adenocarcinoma (72% vs. 96.2%, respectively, P<0.001). In benign endometrial hyperplasia, high ${\beta}$-catenin expression was noted in the cell membranes, whereas in EIN and endometrial adenocarcinoma high expression was noted in the cytoplasm. In conclusion, EIN is more accurate than the WHO classification for the diagnosis of precancerous lesions of the endometrium.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.237-244
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• 2020

Endometrial cancer (EC) in young women tends to be early-stage and low-grade; therefore, such cases have good prognoses. Fertility-sparing treatment with progestin is a potential alternative to definitive treatment (i.e., total hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, pelvic washing, and/or lymphadenectomy) for selected patients. However, no evidence-based consensus or guidelines yet exist, and this topic is subject to much debate. Generally, the ideal candidates for fertility-sparing treatment have been suggested to be young women with grade 1 endometrioid adenocarcinoma confined to the endometrium. Magnetic resonance imaging should be performed to rule out myometrial invasion and extrauterine disease before initiating fertility-sparing treatment. Although various fertility-sparing treatment methods exist, including the levonorgestrel-intrauterine system, metformin, gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists, photodynamic therapy, and hysteroscopic resection, the most common method is high-dose oral progestin (medroxyprogesterone acetate at 500-600 mg daily or megestrol acetate at 160 mg daily). During treatment, re-evaluation of the endometrium with dilation and curettage at 3 months is recommended. Although no consensus exists regarding the ideal duration of maintenance treatment after achieving regression, it is reasonable to consider maintaining the progestin therapy until pregnancy with individualization. According to the literature, the ovarian stimulation drugs used for fertility treatments appear safe. Hysterectomy should be performed after childbearing, and hysterectomy without oophorectomy can also be considered for young women. The available evidence suggests that fertility-sparing treatment is effective and does not appear to worsen the prognosis. If an eligible patient strongly desires fertility despite the risk of recurrence, the clinician should consider fertility-sparing treatment with close follow-up.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.7
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• pp.3993-4003
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• 2013

Scientific evidence for the primary prevention of cancer caused by physical activity of regular moderate-intensity or greater is rapidly accumulating in this field. About 300 epidemiologic studies on the association between physical activity and cancer risk have been conducted worldwide. The objectives of this paper were three-fold: (i) to describe briefly the components of physical activity and its quantification; (ii) to summarize the most important conclusions available from comprehensive reports, and reviews of the epidemiologic individual and intervention studies on a role physical activity in cancer prevention; (iii) to present proposed biological mechanisms accounting for effects of activity on cancer risk. The evidence of causal linked physical activity and cancer risk is found to be strong for colon cancer - convincing; weaker for postmenopausal breast and endometrium cancers - probable; and limited suggestive for premenopausal breast, lung, prostate, ovary, gastric and pancreatic cancers. The average risk reductions were reported to be 20-30%. The protective effects of physical activity on cancer risk are hypothesized to be through multiple interrelated pathways: decrease in adiposity, decrease in sexual and metabolic hormones, changes in biomarkers and insulin resistance, improvement of immune function, and reduction of inflammation. As there are several gaps in the literature for associations between activity and cancer risk, additional studies are needed. Future research should include studies dealing with limitations in precise estimates of physical activity and of a lack of consensus on what defines sedentary behavior of individuals and those linked with the proposed biomarkers to cancer risk and controlled exercise intervention trials.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.214-217
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• 2011

To avoid improper tumor volume contouring in radiation therapy (RT) and other invasive procedures, we report a case of uterine adenomyosis showing increased $^{18}F$-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake on positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) mimicking malignant tumor in a 44-year-old woman during concurrent chemoradiation therapy (CCRT) for uterine cervical cancer. The adenomyosis was not associated with her menstrual cycle or with normal endometrium uptake, and it resolved one month after completion of RT. This case indicates that uterine adenomyosis in a premenopausal woman may show false positive uptake of $^{18}FDG$-PET/CT associated with CCRT.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.769-773
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• 2013

Background: A literature review on 1,104,269 cancer patients concluded that the prevalence of multiple primary malignancies (MPM) is between 0.73% and 11.7%. MPMs seem to have higher incidence than that influenced by hazard only. The purpose of this study was to investigate clinically useful information for effective screening for synchronous and metachronous second primary cancers and to identify a potential surveillance protocol. Materials and Methods: Using statistical and epidemiological indicators we evaluated the patients with MPMs (double locations) admitted to Dr. Abdurrahman Yurtarslan Ankara Oncology Education and Research Hospital between 1981 and 2010. Results: Out of the 130 cases, 24 (18.4%) were synchronous while 106 cases (81.6%) were metachronous tumours. Mean interval time from first to second primary cancers was 4.65 years (0-27 years). The most frequent malignant associations were breast-breast, breast-endometrium and breast-ovary. Both primary and secondary tumors tended to be in an advanced stage explained by the low compliance of the patients to follow-up. Conclusions: The possibility that MPMs exist must always be considered during pretreatment evaluation. Screening procedures are especially useful for the early detection of associated tumors, whereas careful monitoring of patients treated for primary cancer and a good communication between patients and medical care teams should ensure early detection of secondary tumors, and subsequent appropriate management.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.13
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• pp.5355-5358
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• 2014

Background: To assess the role of sonographic endometrial thickness and hysteroscopic polyp size in predicting premalignant and malignant polyps in postmenopausal women. Materials and Methods: A total of 328 postmenopausal women with abnormal uterine bleeding and thickened endometrium underwent operative hysteroscopy due to detection of endometrial polyps were included in this retrospective study. Preoperative endometrial thickness measured by transvaginal ultrasonography and polyp size on hysteroscopy were noted. Hysteroscopic resection with histology was performed for endometrial polyps. Endometrial thickness and polyp size were evaluated on the basis of final diagnosis established by histologic examination. Receiver operator characteristic curves were calculated to assess the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy of endometrial thickness and polyp size for detecting pemalignant and malignant polyps. Results: Premalignant and malignant polyps were identified in 26 (7.9%) of cases. Sonographic measurement showed a greater endometrial thickness in cases of premalignant and malignant polyps when compared to benign polyps. On surgical hysteroscopy, premalignant and malignant polyps were also larger. Endometrial thickness demonstrated a sensitivity of 53.8%, specificity of 85.8%, PPV of 24.6% and NPV of 95.6% at a cut-off limit of 11.5 mm with diagnostic accuracy of 83.2%. Polyp size has a diagnostic accuracy of 94.8% with a sensitivity of 92.3%, specificity of 95.0%, PPV of 61.5% and NPV of 99.3% at a cut-off point of 19.5mm. Conclusions: Endometrial thickness measured by transvaginal ultrasonography is not sufficient in predicting premalignant and malignant endometrial polyps in postmenopausal women with abnormal uterine bleeding and thickened endometrium. Polyp size on hysteroscopy is a more accurate parameter, because of better sensitivity and specificity. However, while polyp size ${\geq}19.5mm$ seems to have a great accuracy for predicting premalignancy and malignancy, histologic evaluation is still necessary to exclude premalignant and malignant polyps.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.13
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• pp.5305-5310
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• 2015

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between preoperative leukocyte and platelet counts and the stage of the disease in patients with endometrial cancer. Materials and Methods: Data for 100 patients undergoing total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingoophorectomy for benign uterine diseases and 177 patients surgically staged for endometrial cancer at Ondokuz Mayis University, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics between 2005 and 2013, with preoperative complete blood count in the week prior to surgery including WBC, platelet count, pathologic evaluation for both benign and malign endometrium lesions, tumor stage and presence of lymphovascular space invasion (LVI), were retrospectively analyzed. Results: The preoperative leukocyte count was significantly higher in patients with endometrial cancer when compared to the patients with benign diseases. However, there were no significant differences in platelet counts between the groups. Patients with advanced stage endometrial cancer had higher preoperative leukocyte counts when compared to the early stage disease whereas there was no difference in platelet count. Multivariate regression analysis identified preoperative leukocytosis as an independent prognostic factor for endometrial cancer. The optimal cut-off point for WBC was calculated as 10,500 to differentiate stage 1-2-3 and 4 with 88.9% sensitivity and 86.3% specificity (AUC: 0.901, 95% CI: 0.829-0.973, p<0.001, PPV: 25.8%, NPV: 99.3%). Conclusions: Preoperative leukocytosis is independently associated with advanced endometrial cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.11
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• pp.5659-5663
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• 2012

To investigate the expression of hPOT1 in the HeLa cell line and screen point mutations of hpot1 in different tumor tissues a two step osmotic method was used to extract nuclear proteins. EMSA was performed to determine the expression of hPOT1 in the HeLa cell line. PCR was also employed to amplify the exon14 sequence of the hpot1 gene in various of cancer tissues. A SV gel and PCR clean-up system was performed to enrich PCR products. DNAStar was used to analyse the exon14 sequence of the hpot1 gene. hPOT1 was expressed in the HeLa cell line and the signal was gradually enhanced as the amount of extracted nuclear proteins increased. The DNA fragment of exon14 of hpot1 was successfully amplified in the HeLa cell line and all cancer tissues, point mutations being observed in 2 out of 3 cases of endometrial cancer (66.7%) despite the hpot1 sequence being highly conserved. However, the sequence of hpot1 exon14 do not demonstrate point mutations in most cancer tissues. Since hPOT1 was expressed in HeLa cell and the probability of gene point variants was obviously higher in endometrial cancer than other cancers, it may be involved in the pathogenesis of gynecological cancers, especially in cervix and endometrium.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.1495-1499
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• 2015

Background: c-Kit is a proto-oncogene that encodes a tyrosine kinase receptor (CD117). Mean platelet volume (MPV) is a useful marker for demonstrating thrombocyte function. We aimed to investigate whether c-kit is expressed in benign, preneoplastic and neoplastic endometrial tissues and whether MPV has a relation with c-kit expression and its intensity. Materials and Methods: c-Kit expression was investigated immunohistochemically in 10 samples of normal endometrium (n=10), simple endometrial hyperplasia (5 cases with atypia and 10 cases without atypia), complex endometrial hyperplasia (10 cases with atypia and 10 cases without atypia) and endometrial cancer (EC) (10 cases grade I and 10 cases grade II) and MPV of all cases was checked. Results: c-Kit expression was observed at very low rates in cases with normal endometrial tissues (NE) and in hyperplasia without atypia. c-Kit expression and immunostaining were strong in endometrial atypia and EC. MPV levels of complex atypical endometrial hyperplasia (CAEH) (p:0.002), EC grade I (ECG I) (p<0.001) and EC grade II (ECG II) (p<0.001) were significantly elevated when compared with the NE group. Both c-kit expression and intensity of immunostaining had a positive correlation with MPV level. Conclusions: While c-kit expression and intensity of immunostaining were mildly positive in NE and hyperplasia without atypia, they were clearly observed in EC and hyperplasia with atypia. As c-kit expression is related to the mutagenesis a long-term followup may be needed in these cases. A high MPV level may be a good test for demonstrating c-kit expression and intensity of immunostaining.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.497-501
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• 2016

Aim: To evaluate the relationship between pre-operative CA-125 levels and myometrial invasion in patients with early-stage endometrioid-type endometrial cancer. Materials and Methods: Two-hundred and sixty patients were diagnosed with endometrial cancer between January 2007 and December 2012. Of these, 136 patients with stage 1 endometrioid histologic-type and documented pre-operative serum CA-125 levels were included in the study. Age, preoperative CA-125 level, histologic grade, surgical grade, and presence of deep myometrial invasion were recorded. Additionally, 16, 20, and 35 IU/ml cutoff values were used and compared to evaluate the relationship between pre-operative CA-125 levels and myometrial invasion. Results: The average serum CA-125 level was $35.4{\pm}36.7$ in patients with deep myometrial invasion, and $21.5{\pm}35.8$ in cases without deep myometrial invasion. The relationship between the presence of deep myometrial invasion and CA-125 cut-off values (16, 20, 35 IU/ml) was statistically significant, although the correlation was weak (p<0.05). When the relationship between 16, 20 and 35 IU/ml CA-125 cut-off values and the presence of deep myometrial invasion was studied, specifity and sensitivity values were identified as: 0.60-0.68 for 16 IU/ml; 0.73-0.48 for 20 IU/ml; and 0.89-0.33 for 35 IU/ml. The sensitivity of 16 IU/ml cut-off value was higher when compared to other values. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that preoperative serum CA-125 values maybe used as a predictive test in patients with early stage endometrioid-type endometrium cancer, and as a prognostic factor alone. Further studies should be conducted to identify different CA-125 cut-off values in patients with low risk endometrial cancer.