[Endometrial carcinoma in young women]

Two hundred and fifty-four patients with endometrial carcinoma were diagnosed and treated from Feb. 1956 to Apr. 1987. Of these, 35 patients were below the age of 40 years at the time of diagnosis. These patients were analyzed and compared with those aged above 40. The main clinical manifestations were primary sterility and irregular menstruation. An endometrial carcinoma should be suspected in young women with menstruation disorder, sterility and follicular cyst of ovary refractory to treatment. The highly differentiated endometrial carcinoma in young women was easily confused with adenomatous hyperplasia and should be diagnosed with caution. In young patients with stage I well-differentiated disease desirous of childbirth, treatment by large dose of progestogens without hysterectomy may be the method of choice. Estimation of estrogen and progesterone receptors was very helpful in selecting therapeutic modalities and predicting prognosis. The difference of 5-year survival rates between these two groups of patients were not statistically significant.