Endometrial and ovarian cancer often associated

A Swedish population-based study shows a “strong” clustering of endometrial carcinomas and ovarian carcinomas, European researchers report in the May 15th issue of Cancer.

In fact, lead investigator Dr. Kari Hemminki told Reuters Health, “The risk of finding ovarian cancer of an endometrioid type together with an endometrial cancer is so large that it should be always considered and carefully excluded.” Dr. Hemminki of the Karolinska Institute, Heddinge, Sweden and colleagues also note that there are limited population-based data on subsequent neoplasms after such diagnoses. To investigate further, the researchers identified 19,128 invasive endometrial carcinomas and 19,440 ovarian carcinomas in a nationwide Swedish family cancer database.”An excess of subsequent malignancies after women were diagnosed with endometrial carcinoma was noted at 11 sites,” the researchers report. The highest standardized incidence rates (SIRs) were for synchronous or metasynchronous ovarian carcinomas (55.77) and carcinomas of the small intestines (14.71).Primary ovarian cancer was followed by an increased risk of developing endometrial carcinoma. The SIR for a synchronous histological diagnosis of ovarian endometrioid carcinoma and primary endometrial carcinoma was 140. For primary ovarian cancer followed by endometrial cancer, the SIR was 87.The researchers note that they found a “small” familial component in the co-occurrence of these conditions and Dr. Hemminki stressed that “these are reasonably common tumors and they are important clinically.”(Source: Cancer 2003;97:2432-2439: Reuters Health: David Douglas: May 29, 2003: Oncolink)