CLINICAL-SIGNIFICANCE OF CYTOGENETIC ABNORMALITIES IN UTERINE MYOMAS

Objective: To investigate the clinical characteristics of uterine myom as with cytogenetic rearrangements. Design: Comparative study of myoma s with normal and abnormal karyotype. Setting: University hospital. Pa tients: Premenopausal, GnRH-agonist (GnRH-a) treated and menopausal pa tients. Interventions: Myomectomy or hysterectomy. Main Outcome Measur es: Karyotype analysis and clinical characteristics. Results: Clonal a bnormalities occurred in 29% of uterine myomas but were not related to the age of the patient or, in untreated menopausal patients, to the s ize of the myoma. In GnRH-a treated and menopausal women, 48% of the m yomas larger than 4 cm were associated with clonal abnormalities. Subm ucous myomas had significantly fewer clonal abnormalities (12%) than s ubserosal (29%) or intramural myomas (35%). Conclusion: The data suppo rt the hypothesis that cytogenetic rearrangements in uterine myomas ar e associated with loss of steroid hormones dependency and alter the gr owth potential of the tumor. (C) 1998 by American Society for Reproduc tive Medicine.