Prospective endometrial assessment of breast cancer patients treated with third generation aromatase inhibitors.

Objective: A prospective evaluation of the effects on endometrium of third generation aromatase inhibitors (AIs), administered as adjuvant up-front therapy or switched therapy in menopausal patients suffering from breast cancer.

Methods: Forty-five patients suffering from estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer were treated with AIs as adjuvant endocrine therapy; 27 patients switched from tamoxifen to AIs (group 1) due to adverse medical events related to tamoxifen intake (22 patients) or to an extended endocrine treatment after 60 months of tamoxifen therapy (5 patients); whereas 18 patients received AIs as up-front adjuvant therapy (group 2). All patients underwent endometrial investigation before the start of AIs therapy and, thereafter, at 12 month intervals.

Pretreatment and prospective assessment of endometrium in menopausal women taking tamoxifen for breast cancer.

Objectives: To estimate the pretreatment incidence of endometrial pathology and to prospectively assess the endometrial morbidity emerging during tamoxifen intake for breast cancer.

Study Design: One-hundred and forty-six menopausal breast cancer patients, candidate to receive tamoxifen underwent endometrial assessment by Transvaginal Ultrasonography (TU) before the start of therapy. A double-layered endometrial stripe measuring more than 4mm indicated hysteroscopy and endometrial biopsy.

Histopathologic behavior of endometrial hyperplasia during tamoxifen therapy for breast cancer.

Objective: The purpose of the present study is to prospectively evaluate the effects of tamoxifen on the pathological behavior of endometrial hyperplasias without atypia, diagnosed before the start of adjuvant endocrine therapy, in menopausal patients suffering from breast cancer.

Methods: Twenty-six patients suffering from estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer and candidate to receive adjuvant tamoxifen, were found to be affected by endometrial hyperplasias before the start of endocrine therapy. All women showed a baseline endometrial stripe, measured by transvaginal ultrasonography, thicker than 4 mm and the diagnosis of endometrial hyperplasia was made by hysteroscopy and endometrial biopsy.

Baseline endometrial assessment before tamoxifen for breast cancer in asymptomatic menopausal women.

Objective: The aim of this study is to estimate the prevalence of endometrial pathology before the start of tamoxifen therapy in menopausal breast cancer patients.

Methods: Ninety-one gynecologically asymptomatic patients, suffering from estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer and scheduled for adjuvant tamoxifen, underwent pretreatment endometrial assessment. In all patients, a transvaginal ultrasonography was carried out; a double-layered endometrial stripe measuring above 4 mm was considered as abnormal.

High prevalence of a screening-detected, HFE-unrelated, mild idiopathic iron overload in Northern Italy.

Background And Objectives: In Italy, typical HFE mutations account for only 64% of the cases with overt hereditary hemochromatosis (HH), and a common HFE-unrelated disease was hypothesized.

Design And Methods: One thousand and fifty potential blood donors were screened by iron tests, C282Y and H63D HFE mutation analysis in a region in North Italy. Subjects with repeated fasting transferrin saturation of 45% or more and no secondary iron overload were defined as probands with idiopathic iron overload.