DOPPLER FLOW EVALUATION OF PATHOLOGICAL ENDOMETRIAL CONDITIONS IN POSTMENOPAUSAL BREAST-CANCER PATIENTS TREATED WITH TAMOXIFEN

A prospective pilot study was conducted to evaluate the usefulness of uterine artery blood flow in the detection of various pathologic endom etrial conditions in 39 asymptomatic postmenopausal breast cancer pati ents who were treated with tamoxifen. No specific pattern was seen for the uterine artery pulsatility index values in the tamoxifen-treated patients that could be related to any specific endometrial lesions, no r were any specific changes observed in the pulsatility index value wi th increasing severity of the pathologic endometrial conditions. Simil arly, no correlation was found between ultrasonographically measured e ndometrial widths and uterine artery pulsatility index values. Thus, a lthough pulsed Doppler flow ultrasonography has been shown previously to be effective in the detection of uterine cancer in non-tamoxifen-tr eated postmenopausal patients, it probably does not contribute to the assessment of endometrial lesions in postmenopausal breast cancer pati ents treated with tamoxifen.