Endometrial status in post-menopausal women on long-term continuous combined hormone replacement therapy (Kliofem). A comparative study of endometrial biopsy, outpatient hysteroscopy and transvaginal ultrasound

K Piegsa, Karin Piegsa, A Calder, Ann Calder, J. A. Davis, D McKay-Hart, David McKay-Hart, Michael Wells, M Wells, F. Bryden
European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology · 1997 · vol. 72(2) , pp. 175–180 · doi:10.1016/s0301-2115(96)02670-x · PMID:9134398 · W2125502896
Diagnostic accuracy OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 5 in-corpus citations
View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-11 ⓘ

This study compared endometrial biopsy, outpatient hysteroscopy, and transvaginal ultrasound for assessing the endometrium in post-menopausal women using long-term continuous combined hormone replacement therapy.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

Forty post-menopause women using a preparation of 2 mg 17 beta-oestradiol and 1 mg norethisterone acetate (Kliofem) for a mean duration of 2.9 years were investigated in an open, prospective, method comparison study. Main outcome measures were the histology of endometrial biopsy in comparison with clinical evaluation of the endometrium during panoramic hysteroscopy and endometrial thickness measured by transvaginal ultrasound. Thirty-six women had either an inactive atrophic or unassessable endometrial biopsy, the remaining four (10%) showed benign endometrial changes. In the majority of patients the endometrium had a thin and regular appearance on hysteroscopy (92.5% of cases) with an endometrial thickness not exceeding 7 mm (90% of cases). Non-agreement between histology and hysteroscopy or transvaginal ultrasound findings was associated with the presence of polyps and submucosal fibroids, or innocuous endometrial changes such as a pseudodecidual pattern. No case of malignancy was encountered in any patient in this study. The present study suggests that continuous combined hormone replacement therapy appears to be safe with regard to endometrial health. In the majority of women an inactive endometrium or non-assessable biopsy result will be encountered. However, the numbers examined here are small and endometrial carcinoma has been reported to occur. Continuing follow-up of patients on continuous combined HRT is therefore essential.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

MeSH descriptors

Endometrium Estrogen Replacement Therapy Adult Aged Biopsy Endometrium Endometrium Female Humans Hyperplasia Hysteroscopy Middle Aged Postmenopause Ultrasonography

Citation neighborhood (2-hop)

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. Outer rings show 2-hop neighbours — papers reached through the immediate citers/citees. [ collapse to 1-hop ]

References (30)

Cited by (3)

Source provenance

openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-10-08T22:00:16.042305+00:00
unpaywall
last seen: 2026-10-19T06:34:38.229974+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK