Adapted from BMJ 27 July 24
Some types of endometriosis can increase the risk of ovarian cancer by almost ten fold.
Endometriosis affects 11% of the female population and causes half of all cases of pelvic pain and female infertility.
A large cohort study from Utah found that women who were diagnosed with endometriosis were 4.2 times more likely to get ovarian cancer over their lifetime than those who had never been diagnosed.
Deep infiltrating endometriosis was associated with a 9.66 fold increased risk compared to superficial peritoneal endometriosis which gave a 2.82 increased risk.
In a separate Dutch study in 2021, Adenomyosis (related to Endometriosis) was also shown to increase cancer risk, the relative risk being 1.5.
My comment: The background risk of a woman developing ovarian cancer is 2%. Many women diagnosed with endometriosis will need surgery to remove it, to divide adhesions and in severe cases may opt for a hysterectomy. If they are having extensive surgery anyway removal of the ovaries seems a very good idea. Screening women for ovarian cancer has been tried and unfortunately has not been found to be successful. I wonder if studies in the subgroup of women with endometriosis is something that will happen in future. Adenomyosis is when the endometrial deposits are located in the uterine muscle and are found at hysterectomy.
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