Endometriosis and malignancy: The intriguing relationship

Alka Dahiya, Ajit Sebastian, Anitha Thomas, Rachel Chandy, Vinotha Thomas, Abraham Peedicayil
International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics · 2021 · vol. 155(1) , pp. 72–78 · doi:10.1002/ijgo.13585 · PMID:33415752 · W3120988749
article OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 19 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This study found that 13% of endometriosis patients had coexistent ovarian, endometrial, or breast malignancy, with age, CA 125, postmenopausal status, endometrioma size, and disease duration being predictive factors.

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Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence and study the association of ovarian, uterine, and breast cancers with endometriosis. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of all women with a tissue-proven diagnosis of endometriosis postoperatively in a tertiary care hospital between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2019, was conducted to determine the prevalence of coexistent malignancy. Patient details were obtained from electronic clinical records. Univariate analysis followed by multivariate analysis was done to find independent risk factors associated with malignancy. RESULTS: Out of 800 patients, 104 (13.0%) were found to have coexistent malignancy: ovarian (50, 6.2%); endometrial (33, 4.1%); synchronous ovarian and endometrial (7, 0.9%); and breast (14, 1.8%). Increasing age (odds ratio [OR] 1.13; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.09-1.16), higher levels of cancer antigen 125 (CA 125) (OR 1.002; 95% CI 1.001-1.005), postmenopausal status (OR 6.2; 95% CI 2.0-19.2), duration of endometriosis over 5 years (OR 4.7; 95% CI 2.5-9.0), and endometriomas larger than 8 cm (area under the curve 0.83) were predictive of coexistent malignancy. CONCLUSION: Endometriosis is associated with an increased risk of ovarian, endometrial, and breast malignancy. Increasing age, postmenopausal status, higher levels of CA 125, larger endometrioma, and long-standing disease are predictive risk factors.

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Condition tags

endometriosisendometrioma

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Ovarian Neoplasms Ovarian Neoplasms CA-125 Antigen Child, Preschool Cross-Sectional Studies Endometrium Female Humans

Citation neighborhood

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. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (25)

Cited by (19)

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