Staging of endometrial cancer by hysteroscopy

Twenty-four consecutive patients with endometrial adenocarcinoma were staged pre-operatively by hysteroscopy and by fractional dilatation and curettage (D & C) to evaluate the accuracy of each method in differentiating between International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics stage I and II cancer. Hysteroscopic staging was correct in 16 patients (69.6%) and incorrect in 7 (30.4%). In 1 additional patient hysteroscopy failed to diagnose the endometrial cancer. D & C staged 16 patients correctly (66.7%) and 8 incorrectly (33.3%). Where the hysteroscopic and D & C stagings correlated, the staging was correct in 16 patients (75%) and incorrect in 4 (25%). Therefore hysteroscopy and D & C are of similar value in the pre-operative staging of endometrial adenocarcinoma and their combined use has a slight advantage.