Second primary malignancy in endometrial carcinoma patients

Abstract

An epidemiologic study of multiple primary malignant neoplasms in endometrial cancer patients in Israel is presented. During the 7-year period of the study, 104 patients (10.3%) out of 1007 patients diagnosed as having endometrial cancer had another primary cancer. There was a significant difference in the incidence of multiple primary cancers between various ethnic groups, women of European/American origin having higher incidence than women of Asian/African origin. A significantly higher than expected incidence of second primary cancers occurred at the following sites: breast (relative risk, 4.1), ovary (relative risk, 11.6), cervix (relative risk, 5.1), and colon (relative risk, 5.9). The prognosis was mainly influenced by the site of the second primary cancer. The increased incidence of multiple primary malignancies justifies a high level of alertness to the possibility of second primary cancer in endometrial cancer patients.