{"paper_id":"2244721d-48ab-4339-8467-641e5ff1ee31","body_text":"Abstract\nPurpose\nThis study aims to present the clinical characteristics of a series of postmenopausal women with endometriosis and to evaluate the preferential location, extension and histopathological features of the lesions.\nMethods\nWe retrospectively examined the clinical records of 72 postmenopausal women with endometriosis who underwent surgery between January 1998 and December 2010.\nResults\nThe median age of patients at the time of surgery was 58.5 years. Eleven patients (15.3 %) had previous history of endometriosis and five patients had previously undergone surgery for this reason. Only two patients included in the study were using hormone replacement therapy at the time of surgery. The most frequent location of endometriotic lesions was the ovary and among patients with endometriomas, 35 % (20/57) had different grades of metaplasia, hyperplasia, atypia and endometrioid carcinoma arising in endometriosis. The proportions of epithelium, stroma and hemorrhage in endometriotic lesions were higher in patients with concomitant endometrial or ovarian cancer.\nConclusions\nEndometriosis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of postmenopausal cystic lesions of the ovary. The administration of exogenous estrogen is not a prerequisite for the presence of endometriosis in postmenopausal women, and histological signs of functionally active lesions were also observed in the absence of exogenous hormone intake.\nSimilar content being viewed by others\nReferences\nGurates B, Bulun SE (2003) Endometriosis: the ultimate hormonal disease. Semin Reprod Med 21:125–134\nFerrero S, Arena E, Morando A, Remorgida V (2010) Prevalence of newly diagnosed endometriosis in women attending the general practitioner. Int J Gynaecol Obstet 110:203–207\nGiudice LC, Kao LC (2004) Endometriosis. 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Arch Gynecol Obstet 286, 1571–1575 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-012-2473-5\nReceived:\nAccepted:\nPublished:\nIssue date:\nDOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-012-2473-5","source_license":"CC0","license_restricted":false}