Unus Pro omnibus, omnes Pro uno: a commentary on the eternal dilemma of endometrial cancer screening in postmenopausal asymptomatic women. Is it time to team up?

Abstract

Introduction: The diagnostic workflow for endometrial carcinoma in postmenopausal asymptomatic women remains an ongoing dilemma. Whereas an ultrasonographic endometrial thickness greater than 4.0 or 5.0 mm is adequate for warranting further investigations in women with postmenopausal vaginal bleeding, there is still no unanimous consensus on what the ideal endometrial thickness cut-off should be, justifying additional inspection through endometrial sampling when bleeding is absent.

Methods: A comprehensive overview of the most recent literature to summarize the clinical pathway necessary for the diagnostic assessment of a postmenopausal asymptomatic woman with increased ultrasonographic endometrial thickness.

Results: An endometrial thickness cut-off between 3.0 and 5.9 mm seems to show the lowest specificity while also reducing the chances of missing malignancy. If endometrial thickness can be a valid starting point, a careful evaluation of the other ultrasonographic endometrial features and a thorough scrutiny of patients' risk factors are pivotal to standardizing the diagnostic process while avoiding overtreatment. Although preventing unnecessary procedures is crucial, stratifying the risk and proceeding with further investigations (preferably through outpatient or office hysteroscopically-guided targeted biopsies) should be the goal.

Conclusions: Closer collaboration between different fields of medicine (ultrasonography, hysteroscopy, and oncology) is strongly encouraged to facilitate early diagnosis of asymptomatic postmenopausal women at risk of developing endometrial malignancy.