[Study on echo pattern of endometrial cancer (author's transl)].

Ultrasound imaging of endometrial cancer and its diagnostic efficacy has not been discussed in literature up to the present. 59 echograms of this entity which was pathologically confirmed postoperatively during the last 7 years were analyzed in relation to the clinical stage, growth pattern and histological features. Internal echoes of the uterine body can be classified into the following 4 patterns: type 1: anechoic, type 2: linear, type 3: cystic, type 4: massive. The incidence of type 3 and 4 account for 25.4% and 40.7% of all cases respectively. It shows that abnormality in echo pattern can be recognised without difficulty in more than a half of the cases. The difference between echo pattern (type 1+2, 3+4) and clinical stage (stage I, II-IV) was statistically significant in chi 2 test. In particular, type (3+4) amount to 81% of clinical stage (II-IV). There was also significant difference between echo pattern and growth pattern, especially the circumscribed form amount to 79.2% in type 4 and 81.3% of circumscribed form was made up of type (3+4). But the echo pattern showed no apparent correlation with the histological type and grade. Moreover, some clinically useful information about the coexistent lesions, including 2 ovarian metastasis, could be obtained by the ultrasound.