A related discussion,
When is enough enough? was started.
My reading of the medical literature through Pubmed is that malignant transformation occurs in about 0.7% of endometriosis sufferers. That it most commonly occurs in the ovary if the endometriosis is found there. Maybe this is what the doctor meant. I gather it can be difficult histologically to tell the difference between endometriosis turned malignant or whether it is an ovarian cancer. The chemo treatment seems to be the same though. They seem to give radiotherapy to some of these as they seem to recur locally in the pelvis. Hope this is helpful...
That question is being studied now and it seems there can be a link. Here is one study's link... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16844279?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=2&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed
There are other related articles on the right.
I do not know it endo turns into other cancers, possibly uterine....but, not ovarian cancer. I was at a seminar and a GYN/ONC explained that when it comes to Ovarian Cancer, you either have it or you don't. In other words a cyst will not become cancerous if left alone if it was not cancerous to start with.
I am not an expert and perhaps someone else on the forum will know more than I do about this but I do believe it is uncommon for endo to become cancerous. I have read of rare malignant transformations occurring but I personally wouldn't worry.
Take Care,
Treebee
I have had endometriosis stage 4 for 3 years ive also read that endo can turn into cancer i would really like to hear an experts opinion
i have had endometriosis 4 about 6 or 7 years now could you please tell me can it lead to avarian cancer?
if so what are the signs? thank you