ABSTRACT
Endometrial sampling is carried out periodically in order to rule out malignancy and premalignant changes in the endometrium of asymptomatic women receiving postmenopausal hormone replacement or tamoxifen for breast cancer. Monitoring of the endometrium is often performed as an outpatient or office procedure with endometrial aspirate sampling. Most instruments available for sampling the endometrium in an outpatient setting use a suction mechanism to sample the endometrial lining; these include the Vabra aspirator and Pipelle. Endometrial tumors localized to a polyp or to a small area of endometrium may go undetected using outpatient endometrial-biopsy methods. Among the many indications for sampling the endometrium, abnormal uterine bleeding is the commonest. Dilatation and curettage necessitates hospital admission and involves an anesthetic risk. The histological subtyping and grading of endometrial carcinoma, particularly the endometrioid subtype, can be discrepant between pre-hysterectomy specimens, whether obtained by formal cervical dilatation and curettage or by outpatient endometrial sampling, and hysterectomy specimens.
