Demystifying endometrial hyperplasia

Abstract

The endometrial hyperplasias form a spectrum of proliferative lesions, not all of which conform to conventional definition of hyperplasia. For whilst most hyperplastic lesions are composed of cells normally occurring in the late proliferative phase endometrium, there are those few which consist of genuine atypical cells. Lesions of this type, so-called “atypical endometrial hyperplasias”, tend to merge imperceptibly with well differentiated endometrioid adenocarcinomas, giving rise to major challenges: First and foremost, what are the very essential criteria that should be met before diagnosing such a lesion? And what are the very least that should be insisted upon for diagnosing malignancy once an atypical endometrial hyperplasia has been established? What is its true nature and how should ideally be classified? Other less conflicting, but equally interesting, aspects of endometrial hyperplasia which are covered in this account include the conventional hyperplasias, i.e. those lacking cytological atypia, and the overall incidence, risk factors and treatment of the disease. It is worth noting that “pure” stromal cell proliferations are, in itself, not necessarily neoplastic, for many take the form of endometrial stromal hyperplasia.