Endometriosis and an increased risk of malignancies. A literature review

Krasa Aleksandra, Kozioł Magdalena, Piecewicz-Szczęsna Halina, Pawlicki Mateusz, Łopuszyńska Anna, Krawiec Paulina, Piekarska Ewa. Endometriosis and an increased risk of malignancies. A literature review. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2020;10(9):290‑298. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/JEHS.2020.10.09.033

https://apcz.umk.pl/czasopisma/index.php/JEHS/article/view/JEHS.2020.10.09.033

https://zenodo.org/record/4026083

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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© The Authors 2020;

This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland

Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author (s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non commercial license Share alike.

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Received: 20.08.2020. Revised: 25.08.2020. Accepted: 12.09.2020.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Endometriosis and an increased risk of malignancies. A literature review

 

Aleksandra Krasa^a, Magdalena Kozioł^a, Halina Piecewicz-Szczęsna^b, Mateusz Pawlicki^a, Anna Łopuszyńska^a, Paulina Krawiec^a, Ewa Piekarska^a

 

^aStudent Scientific Association at Department of Epidemiology and Clinical Research Methodology, Medical University of Lublin, ul. Radziwiłłowska 11, Lublin 20-080, Poland

^bDepartment of Epidemiology and Clinical Research Methodology of the Medical University of Lublin, ul. Radziwiłłowska 11, Lublin 20-080, Poland

 

Corresponding author: Aleksandra Krasa, ola.AK62@gmail.com

 

ORCID ID:

Aleksandra Krasa, 0000-0002-0733-202X, ola.AK62@gmail.com

Magdalena Kozioł, 0000-0002-8671-5968, magdalena.koziol@icloud.com

dr n. med. Halina Piecewicz-Szczęsna, 0000-0002-0573-7226, halpiec@gmail.com

Mateusz Pawlicki, 0000-0001-8318-6573, pawlak32@gmail.com

Anna Łopuszyńska, 0000-0001-5133-4180, lopuszynskaania@gmail.com

Paulina Krawiec, 0000-0002-9527-5837, paulina.krawiec96@gmail.com

Ewa Piekarska, 0000-0002-4954-379X, piekarskaewaa@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Endometriosis is a common gynaecological disorder associated with pelvic pain and sub-fertility, affecting 7–15% of women of reproductive age. The disease is defined as the presence of endometrial-like tissue outside the uterine cavity, primarily on pelvic organs. The aetiology of endometriosis is still uncertain. The disease rarely causes mortality, however, it may have a significant impact on a patient's quality of life. Moreover, several studies have consistently shown that endometriosis is associated with a higher risk of some types of malignancies.

Results: Endometriosis shares several molecular characteristics with invasive cancer, such as inflammation, tissue invasion, angiogenesis, dysfunction of immune cells and pro-survival features. Studies have shown that ovarian cancer, especially clear cell, endometrioid and serous, has been associated with endometriosis. Furthermore, the risk of cancer of the uterine cervix has shown to be decreased and the results on the risk of the cancers of uterine corpus or breast are inconsistent. Among non‐gynecological cancers, melanoma of the skin, non‐Hodgkin‐lymphoma, brain and thyroid cancers have also been associated with endometriosis.

Conclusions: Research results indicate that women with endometriosis have an increased risk for some types of malignancies, therefore, they should be under strict gynecological control, even many years after menopause. Further research is needed to prove the real risk of different types of malignant tumors among women with endometriosis. In addition, it is necessary to establish periodic examination schedules among these patients in order to prevent certain types of malignancies.

 

Key words: endometriosis; cancer risk; ovarian cancer; non‐gynecological cancers.