The relationship between aging and uterine endometrial lesions detected by transvaginal ultrasound in elderly women

Objective To explore the characteristics of endometrial lesions and uterine cavity abnormality by transvaginal sonography(TVS)and the potential impact of aging on those. Methods 1 052 elderly women(aged ≥60 years)underwent hysteroscopy endometrial curettage based on TVS providing an indication of abnormal uterine cavity at our hospital from January 2010 to December 2017, and their clinical and pathological data were analyzed.1052 patients were divided by age into a <65 years group and a ≥65 years group.And age tertile stratifications of lower tertile group, middle tertile group, and upper tertile group were used to investigate the correlation between ageing and endometirum diseases. Results A total of 1052 elderly women were included, and the simple endometrial thickening was the most common etiological factor(53.2%), followed by abnormal endometrial echoes(36.9%)and endometrial cavity fluid(9.9%). All the pathological results of polyps and endometrial cancer accounted for 57.8% and 4.2%, respectively.Age tertile stratification analysis suggested that the proportions of endometrial cavity fluid was 6.1%(n=20)in the lower tertile group, 5.9%(n=20)in the middle tertile group, and 16.7%(n=64)in the upper tertile group(χ2=23.40, P<0.01). An increasing proportion along with aging for precancerous lesions was 0.0%(n=0), 2.4%(n=8), 3.1%(n=12)(χ2=9.04, P<0.01)in lower/middle/upper age tertile groups.But the proportion of endometrial cancer was decreased with ageing[lower/middle/upper tertiles: 6.1%(n=20), 4.7%(n=16), 2.1%(n=8)(χ2=7.23, P<0.01]. Conclusions TVS is an effective method for screening uterine cavity lesions in elderly women.The TVS-detected prevalence of endometrial cavity fluid increases with ageing.The hysteroscopy endometrial pathological examination shows that endometrial cancer decreases and precancerous lesions increase with ageing. Key words: Age groups; Endosonography; Endometrium