Study of vaginal and endometrial receptors in adenocarcinoma of the endometrium

Abstract

The hormonal condition of 42 women affected with endometrial adenocarcinoma was cytologically studied at the level of the vagina and of the mucous membrane surrounding the cancer lesion. A relatively low incidence of side symptoms of oestrogenic stimulation was observed (23.8 per cent in the endometrium, 14.2 per cent in the vagina). In still menstruated women gland hyperplasy was found in the 50 per cent and abnormal vaginal oestrogenic stimulation in the 20 per cent. In patients in menopause, in the 15.6 and in the 12.5 per cent respectively. To the endometrial folliculinic stimulation, vaginal changes correspond only in the 60 per cent of the cases, whereas in simple hyperplastic endometrial processes this correspondence is found in more than the 80 per cent. The persistence of hyperoestrogenic endometrial changes in the absence of similar vaginal modifications may reflect a greater sensitivity of uterine tissue to the hormonal stimulation. Results cannot give information on the conditions existing at the onset of the cancerization process.