For the 90–95% of women who do not have endometrial cancer, postmenopausal bleeding necessitates a prompt examination with invasive tests that are not necessary. A simple, non-invasive instrument that correctly detects cancer while also reassuring healthy women has the potential to revolutionize patient care.
Researchers have found that urine and vaginal cytology have a combined sensitivity of 91.7% (95% CI 85.0%, 96.1%) and specificity of 88.8% (81.2%, 94.1%) for gynecological cancer detection in a cross-sectional diagnostic accuracy study of 103 women with known cancer and 113 with unexplained postmenopausal bleeding. From a total of 103 known cancer cases, cytology detects 91 endometrial, two fallopian tubes, and one cervical cancer.
Cytology reveals all four endometrial malignancies as well as three others (cervical, ovarian, and bladder) in women with unexplained postmenopausal bleeding, with a false positive rate of 12/107 (11.2%). They demonstrate that endometrial cancer may be identified in urine and vaginal fluid. Prospective confirmation of these findings will encourage the use of this non-invasive test in clinical settings.
Reference:www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-21257-6
