Endometrial thickness and ovarian cysts as measured by ultrasound in asymptomatic postmenopausal breast cancer patients on various adjuvant treatments including tamoxifen.

Endometrial thickness as measured by ultrasound during tamoxifen treatment has previously been reported. However, there has not been any study investigating endometrial thickness before treatment and following it at regular intervals during treatment. 90 patients with breast cancer without any gynecological symptoms were followed (aged more than 50 years at the operation of their breast cancer). They were investigated by vaginal ultrasound and a common clinical investigation at our out-care patient department. Adjuvant breast cancer therapy consisted of tamoxifen, tamoxifen after radiotherapy and/or in a few cases cytostatics, cytostatics with or without the addition of radiotherapy, radiotherapy or no further therapy. Patients with receptor positive tumours were given tamoxifen. Their endometrium was already thicker before the start of adjuvant treatment as measured by ultrasound. After 3 months and 12 months we found the endometrium to be significantly thicker in those treated with tamoxifen compared to other treatment groups. After 12 months of tamoxifen treatment 22/32 women had an endometrial thickness of 5 mm or more. The frequency of ovarian cysts also seemed to be affected by therapy. In patients treated with tamoxifen alone or in combination, the frequency of cysts was 5/35 before treatment, 6/37 after 3 months, and 0/32 after one year. The corresponding frequencies for those not treated with tamoxifen were 2/20, 3/11 and 3/23 respectively.