Does tamoxifen thicken the uterine lining?
Endometrial thickness increased with the duration of tamoxifen treatment. Seventy-three women being treated with tamoxifen for less than 5 years had a median endometrial thickness of 5 mm, and 44% of biopsies yielded abnormal results.
Can tamoxifen cause endometrial hyperplasia?
Although the primary therapeutic effect of tamoxifen is derived from its antiestrogenic properties, this agent also has modest estrogenic activity. In standard dosages, tamoxifen may be associated with endometrial proliferation, hyperplasia, polyp formation, invasive carcinoma, and uterine sarcoma.
What does tamoxifen do to the endometrium?
Tamoxifen results in a spectrum of uterine abnormalities including benign alterations such as endometrial polyps, endometrial hyperplasia, endometrial cystic atrophy, adenomyosis, and uterine fibroid growth as well as malignant transformation into endometrial carcinoma and uterine sarcoma[4–8].
How long does it take for tamoxifen to cause uterine cancer?
After 2-5 years of receiving tamoxifen, the risk for developing uterine cancer doubled and after 5 years of tamoxifen use the risk for developing uterine cancer increased by a factor of 7.
Do tamoxifen side effects get better?
Some side effects of tamoxifen may occur that usually do not need medical attention. These side effects may go away during treatment as your body adjusts to the medicine. Also, your health care professional may be able to tell you about ways to prevent or reduce some of these side effects.
Can tamoxifen cause uterine fibroids?
Uterine fibroid can occur due to estrogen stimulation caused by the use of tamoxifen which is an estrogen receptor agonist in uterine and endometrial tissue. Nevertheless, Tamoxifen treatment is urgently needed in these patients to prevent contralateral metastases.
Why does tamoxifen cause endometrial hyperplasia?
The oncological agent tamoxifen has pro-oestrogenic changes on the endometrium resulting in abnormal growth with an increased prevalence of: endometrial polyps: occurs in ~8-36% of women in treated. endometrial hyperplasia: occurs in ~1-20% of women treated.
Can tamoxifen cause uterine bleeding?
Abnormal uterine bleeding occurs in more than 50% of premenopausal women taking tamoxifen,58,60 and in this group of women, up to 23% will have an underlying endometrial abnormality such as polyps, hyperplasia, or EC.
Does tamoxifen help gyno?
Tamoxifen, an estrogen antagonist, is effective for recent-onset and tender gynecomastia when used in doses of 10-20 mg twice daily. Up to 80% of patients report partial to complete resolution. Tamoxifen is typically used for 3 months before referral to a surgeon.
What’s the normal thickness of the endometrial after tamoxifen?
Most patients tend to display a multiplicity of findings. normal endometrial thickness despite tamoxifen use, i.e. <5 mm (although ~50% of those receiving tamoxifen have been reported to have a thickness of >8 mm) 2 it has also been reported that the degree of endometrial thickening corresponds to the duration of tamoxifen therapy
Can a thickening of the endometrium cause bleeding?
Endometrium thickening may cause bleeding after menopause, but even without bleeding, the possibility of endometrial cancer cannot be ruled out. Confirmation may be done using endometrial biopsy. Endometrial thickness must be evaluated together with endometrial morphology as well as risk factors for malignancy when considering endometrial sampling.
What happens when the lining of the uterus becomes thick?
Endometrial hyperplasia is a condition in which the endometrium (the lining of the uterus) becomes abnormally thick. Although endometrial hyperplasia is not cancer, it can lead to uterine cancer in some women. Appointments & Locations.
How is the thickness of the endometrial related to cancer?
We determined the risk of cancer for a postmenopausal woman with vaginal bleeding when the endometrial thickness measures > 5 mm, and then determined the endometrial thickness in a woman without vaginal bleeding that would be associated with the same risk of cancer.