Endometrial cancer associated with feminizing ovarian tumor and polycystic ovarian disease

Feminizing ovarian tumors and polycystic ovarian disease may cause endometrial cancer by abnormal, unopposed endogenous estrogenic stimulation. We reviewed the clinical course of 72 endometrial cancer patients with a concomitant feminizing ovarian tumor or polycystic ovarian disease and compared tumor characteristics and treatment results with those exhibited by 523 patients treated for endometrial cancer alone. With functioning ovarian tumor and with polycystic ovaries, the cancer tended to be more often low-grade, low-stage, and superficial than did endometrial cancer alone. The high 5-year and 10-year survival rates observed in our functioning ovarian tumor-polycystic ovary patients support the conclusion that endometrial carcinoma with a coexistent endogenous estrogenic stimulus has a more favorable prognosis (P less than 0.01) than endometrial carcinoma alone.