EVALUATION OF DIAGNOSTIC ACCURACY OF PREHYSTERECTOMY CURETTAGE IN DETERMINING TUMOR TYPE IN THE PATIENTS WITH ENDOMETRIAL CANCER IN SHAHID MOTAHARI HOSPITAL IN URMIA, IRAN

Background & Aims: The use of curettage in the diagnosis of endometrial disorders is very widespread, and is the most common diagnostic method before performing hysterectomy. Various studies have been performed to compare the pathological results obtained from curettage with the final pathological results of hysterectomy. The results of some of these studies indicated high efficiency of curettage but the others indicated its inefficiency in the diagnosis of endometrial disorders, especially endometrial carcinoma. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of curettage before hysterectomy in determining tumour type. Materials & Method: Pathological specimens obtained from curettage and hysterectomy in 89 patients with endometrial cancer who underwent hysterectomy in Shahid Motahari Hospital in Urmia from 2015 to 2018, were reviewed and the data of these two methods were compared. Demographic information of the patients was also extracted from their files and their relationship with the diagnostic accuracy of curettage before hysterectomy in determination of the type of tumor in the patients with endometrial cancer was examined. Results: Curettage had a high ability to distinguish between malignant and benign forms of the tumor. Due to the positive predictive value and high sensitivity (95.95% and 80.68%, respectively) and high diagnostic accuracy in determination of the tumor type (78.3%), if the curettage result is also positive, curettage indicates malignancy of the tumor with a high confidence level. The diagnostic accuracy of curettage has no significant relationship with age, clinical signs, and tumor type, but is associated with the tumor grade and this association is higher in the tumors with higher FIGO grade than the lower-grade tumors. Conclusion: Due to its high diagnostic accuracy, curettage is a reliable diagnostic method before performing a hysterectomy.