A study of endometrium of patients with abnormal uterine bleeding at Chitwan Valley.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To know the causes for the abnormal uterine bleeding in Women at Chitwan Valley and to compare the histopathological findings between the pre-menopausal and postmenopausal women. DESIGN: A descriptive study of patients who have had vaginal bleeding during the period from January 2000 to July 2002. SETTING: Department of Gynaecological Oncology of BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital (BPKMCH), Chitwan, Nepal. SUBJECTS: Eighty-four women (aged 45 year and above) having abnormal vaginal bleeding managed at BPKMCH. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURED: Various characteristics of the patients including age, menopausal status, histopathological findings. RESULTS: A total of eighty-four patients were studied. Majority (53.5%) of them were postmenopausal ladies presenting with abnormal vaginal bleeding. The age range was 45 to 81 years, with an average of 63. Only 37% had pathological bleeding including malignancy and about 16.6% of all had malignancies. Malignant diseases were found in 7.7% cases in the pre-menopausal ladies whereas it was 24.3%, three times higher, in the post-menopausal ladies. CONCLUSION: Carcinoma of the cervix and of the endometrium occurred with increasing frequency with increasing age in this study. So, a thorough work-up is needed for the perimenopausal/postmenopausal women presenting with an abnormal vaginal bleeding especially to rule out malignancies.