Endometriosis and risk of ovarian cancer

Yavor Kornovski, Yonka Atanasova, Stoyan Kostov, Stanislav Slavchev, Angel Yordanov
In: Oncology in Clinical Practice · 2021 · vol. 17(3) , pp. 125–127 · doi:10.5603/ocp.2021.0012 · W3156433025
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⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-13 ⓘ

Endometriosis, a benign condition with malignant potential, is associated with an increased risk of specific ovarian cancer subtypes that show good prognosis, necessitating follow-up after treatment.

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⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-13 · read from full text ⓘ

This paper examines the relationship between endometriosis and subsequent risk of ovarian cancer, focusing on malignant transformation along the progression from typical endometriosis to atypical endometriosis and on ovarian cancer histologic subtypes with distinguishing clinical features. It synthesizes evidence that, while endometriosis is benign, it has behaviors associated with recurrence and metastasis, and that endometriosis-associated ovarian carcinomas tend to have a relatively good prognosis. The paper notes that management considerations include adequate follow-up and monitoring after treatment, but it does not provide new original study data and relies on previously discussed findings and literature. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — specifically, its role in risk of ovarian cancer and the transition through atypical endometriosis.

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Abstract

Endometriosis is common in premenopausal women and affects about 10% of women of reproductive age. It is a benign condition but demonstrates malignant behaviour with recurrences and metastases. Its tendency to increase the risk of specific subtypes of ovarian cancer is being discussed, because they exhibit specific clinical features that distinguish them from classical ovarian cancer. Malignant transformation of endometriosis goes through its transition to atypical endometriosis. Although endometriosis-associated ovarian carcinomas have a good prognosis, adequate follow-up and monitoring after treatment of endometriosis are recommended.
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Abstract

Endometriosis is common in premenopausal women and affects about 10% of women of reproductive age. It is a benign condition but demonstrates malignant behaviour with recurrences and metastases. Its tendency to increase the risk of specific subtypes of ovarian cancer is being discussed, because they exhibit specific clinical features that distinguish them from classical ovarian cancer. Malignant transformation of endometriosis goes through its transition to atypical endometriosis. Although endometriosis-associated ovarian carcinomas have a good prognosis, adequate follow-up and monitoring after treatment of endometriosis are recommended.

Keywords

endometriosisovarian cancerendometriosis-associated ovarian carcinomarateprognosis

References

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