Two-year follow-up of patients with endometrial carcinoma after preoperative fluid hysteroscopy

The aim of the present study was to analyze whether pretherapeutic hysteros copy increases the recurrence rate in patients with endometrial cancer conf ined to the uterus. Between January 1993 and December 1995 a total of 33 pa tients with endometrial carcinoma underwent surgical staging following diag nostic fluid hysteroscopy and curettage at our department. Twenty-seven pat ients who had disease confined to the uterus without involvement of the ute rine serosa formed the study group. Fifty-five patients with endometrial ca rcinoma confined to the uterus who had undergone surgery after diagnostic c urettage without hysteroscopy during the same period were identified as con trols. The median follow-up in the hysteroscopy group and the controls was 29 months (range 26-46) and 30 months (range 10-48), respectively. In the h ysteroscopy group, no patient died of disease but one patient (3.7%) develo ped a local recurrence 37 months after primary treatment, In the control gr oup, one patient (1.8%) had a local and para-aortic recurrence 20 months af ter primary treatment. Preceding diagnostic fluid hysteroscopy does not see m to increase the risk of early recurrence in patients with endometrial car cinoma histologically confined to the uterus.