Current aspects of gynecological pathology in postmenopause

Between 1982 and 1984 330 women in postmenopause for at least one year were admitted to the First Clinic of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Catania University Medical School, Catania, Italy, with a frequency of 10.04% of gynecological admissions. The most frequent pathologies were metrorrhagia (32.72%; 108 cases) from an atrophic endometrium or glandular hyperplasia of the endometrium, vaginoperineal lacerations with cystorectocoele with or without urinary incontinence (10.90%; 36 cases), cancer (11.21%; 37 cases) and ovarian cystoma (11.21%; 37 cases), uterine prolapse (9.30%; 31 cases), and endometrial polyps (9.09%; 30 cases). Uterine fibromyoma (3.93%; 13 cases) and carcinoma of the portio (3.93%; 13 cases) were among the rare pathologies. Uterine pathologies were the most prevalent (68.78%; 227 cases), followed by ovarian (15.15%; 50 cases), pathology of involving the pelvic and perineal containment (10.90%; 36 cases), vulvar pathology (2.72%; 6 cases), and vaginal pathology (1.51%; 5 cases). Malignant neoplastic pathology was reported in 25.45% of cases (84 cases) consisting only of uterine cancer (47.61%; 40 cases) and ovarian cancer (45.23%; 38 cases). In comparison with the study performed by Cetroni in 1952 one notes a net reduction in the frequency of uterine prolapse (by about three times), and a smaller reduction in cancer of the uterine cervix with a slight increase in cervical polyps, endometrial cancer, and above all in metrorrhagia from atrophic endometrium or glandular hyperplasia of the endometrium.