Do endometrial lesions require removal? A retrospective study

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to evaluate the management of asymptomatic intrauterine lesions detected by ultrasonography. METHODS: Patients who underwent diagnostic hysteroscopy for asymptomatic lesions, including pre- and post-menopausal endometrial polyps, post-menopausal endometrial thickening (ET ≥5 mm) and reduplicative endometrial heterogeneity detected by transvaginal ultrasonography (TVUS), were recruited for this study. RESULTS: In the 792 recruited patients, the symptom-free focal masses within the uterine cavity detected by TVUS included 558 patients with pre- or post-menopausal endometrial polyps and 234 patients with postmenopausal endometrial thickening. No pre-menopausal patient presented with carcinoma. The polyp diameter (PD) was not identified as an independent risk factor for malignancy in this study. A significant difference (P = 0.036, < 0.05) in both benign and malignant endometrial lesions was observed between two groups of post-menopausal women stratified using an endometrial thickness cut-off of ≥11 mm. The TVUS was highly sensitive (94%) for pre-menopausal polyps. This technique had a specificity and positive predictive value of 84.4 and 92.7%, respectively, for postmenopausal polyps. The TVUS was clearly valuable for ruling out polyps, as indicated by a negative likelihood ratio (LR-) of 0.087. Among postmenopausal women with endometrial thickening, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.828 (P < 0.001). An ET cut-off value of 12.5 mm yielded a sensitivity of 72.7% and specificity of 86%. CONCLUSION: We recommend follow-up alone for women with asymptomatic uterine polyps, particularly those who are pre-menopausal. Additionally, gynaecologists should consider risk factors such as age, obesity, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and diabetes. Prospective long-term follow-up studies should be conducted after hysteroscopic polypectomy to evaluate the recurrence rate of endometrial lesions.