Atypical hyperplasia of the endometrium is a significant risk factor for uterine endometrioid carcinoma (EC) and an indication for hysterectomy. Standard sampling of these specimens includes evaluation of the entire endometrium to identify possible EC. We evaluated a method of selective sampling in an effort to balance resource utilization with diagnostic accuracy in the detection of EC.
Histologic diagnoses based on selective sampling (exclusion of every other block of endometrium) were compared with the original diagnosis based on complete sampling.
Double-blinded review of these cases using selective sampling detected EC in 92% of hysterectomies, including all high-grade/high-stage carcinomas. Selective sampling had an 82% agreement with the original diagnoses, with most discordant diagnoses attributable to interobserver variability. Adjusting for interobserver variability increased diagnostic agreement between selective and complete sampling to 96%.
Selective sampling is a feasible method to save time and resources while maintaining diagnostic accuracy.