Hyperplasia and metaplasia of ovarian surface epithelium in women with endometrial carcinoma. Suggestion for a hormonal influence in ovarian carcinogenesis.

Surface ovarian epithelium and that of related inclusion cysts were comparatively studied in two groups of patients: one group of 50 non-pregnant women without myometrial, endometrial, or cervical hyperplasia and/or neoplasia; a second group of 50 women surgically treated for endometrial cancer and without evidence of ovarian pathology. Papillomatosis, hyperplasia and tubaric, squamoid, endometrioid and mucinous metaplasia were more frequently present in ovarian surface epithelium or in related inclusion cysts in patients with endometrial carcinoma. These findings may be correlated with a hormonal oncogenic stimulus involved in the genesis of endometrial cancer and suggests a new "hormonal" hypothesis in the pathogenesis of common epithelial tumors of the ovary.