ROLE OF ENDOMETRIAL BIOPSY IN THE EVALUATION OF ABNORMAL UTERINE BLEEDING- A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF 150 CASES

BACKGROUNDAbnormal uterine bleeding is an important symptom of both benign and serious gynaecological disease.Early evaluation of abnormal uterine bleeding in the perimenopausal and postmenopausal women is essential to confirm the exact nature of the lesion and rule out malignancy.This study is designed to analyse the various histopathological patterns seen in the endometrial samples of women with abnormal uterine bleeding and thereby guides the clinician to make a definitive diagnosis and treat the cause. MATERIALS AND METHODSThe current retrospective descriptive study includes 150 women over the age of 20 years who presented with features of abnormal uterine bleeding in the Gynaecology outpatient department of Government Kasturba Gandhi Hospital, Chennai, during the period of October to December 2017.Relevant clinical data regarding the age, pattern and duration of abnormal bleeding, marital, menstrual and obstetric history were collected.Endometrial samples were obtained by dilatation and curettage or pipelle biopsy.Histological diagnosis was made by the pathologists.Data was entered in Microsoft Excel and statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 20. RESULTSThe age of the patients ranges from 23 -73 years.Maximum number of patients were in the age group of 41 -50 years.The predominant pattern was secretory endometrium in 52 cases (34.6%) followed by proliferative endometrium in 45 cases (30%).Hyperplasia was noted in 22 cases (14.6%) and endometrial carcinoma was found in 8 cases (5.3%). CONCLUSIONEndometrial sampling is the gold standard investigation in the evaluation of AUB.Histopathological examination of the endometrial samples in various forms of abnormal uterine bleeding helps to diagnose pathologic conditions like hyperplasia and endometrial carcinoma and facilitates appropriate treatment of the same.Therefore, histopathological examination of endometrium is especially indicated in women over 35 years to rule out pre-neoplastic and malignant conditions.