The Change of Endometrial Thickness in Tamoxifen-treated Postmenopausal Breast Cancer Patients

Park, Jin Wan; Kang, Yun Dan; Ryu, Jin Woo

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of tamoxifen on endometrial thickness in postmenopausal women taking adjuvant tamoxifen therapy for breast cancer after chemotherapy.
METHODS
Fifty-eight tamoxifen-treated postmenopausal breast cancer patients underwent periodically transvaginal ultrasonography twice a year for 2 years and then once a year. We analyzed the correlation between the sonographic endometrial thickness and the duration of tamoxifen therapy.
RESULTS
The mean endometrial thickness of breast cancer patients before tamoxifen therapy was 4.68 mm. But the mean endometrial thickness increased to 5.03 mm at 6 months, 5.21 mm at 12 months, after which it slightly declined to 5.13 mm at 18 months. And then it increased to 5.15 mm at 24 months, and 5.24 mm at 36 months. There was a significant increase in endometrial thickness after tamoxifen therapy compared with before tamoxifen therapy (p<0.05). Overall, proliferative endometrium was the most common histopathologic finding (5/14) in tamoxifen-treated postmenopausal women who had endometrial thickness >or=5 mm. No cases of endometrial cancer were detected.
CONCLUSION
Significant increase in endometrial thickness with the duration of tamoxifen therapy in postmenopausal tamoxifen-treated patients may be associated with a high risk of endometrial pathologies in these patients.