Endometriosis link with ovarian cancer … and other research

Endometriosis and ovarian cancer riskEndometriosis affects around 11% of women of reproductive age and is an underlying cause of up to 50% of pelvic pain and female infertility.An additional worry is that having endometriosis carries a small increased risk of developing ovarian cancer.This large population-based cohort study from Utah found that women with incident endometriosis were 4.2 times more likely to develop ovarian cancer (7.48-fold increase in type I, 2.7-fold increase in type II) than those without endometriosis (in whom the estimated lifetime risk of ovarian cancer is around 2%).The worse the subtype of endometriosis, the higher the risk of ovarian cancer.Deep infiltrating endometriosis and/or ovarian endometriomas were associated with a 9.66-fold increased risk, whereas superficial peritoneal endometriosis and other endometriosis were associated with 2.82-fold and 2.62-fold increase respectively.Important questions remain.Why does endometriosis apparently increase the risk of ovarian cancer?What's the interaction with other known risk factors such as BRCA mutations?Are there novel treatment targets?And, most relevant for the women concerned, how should we advise, screen, and treat women plagued by this troublesome condition?