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Endometrial hyperplasia
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Endometrial hyperplasia is a disordered overgrowth of the glands of the endometrium, the layer that lines the inside of the uterus. It is not a cancer: it is tissue that is multiplying more, and more chaotically, than it should.
It happens when estrogen stimulates that tissue and the progesterone that normally counterbalances it is missing; in clinical practice this is called unopposed estrogen, like a gas pedal with no brake. The result is that the ratio between the glands and the stroma, the supporting tissue around them, ends up abnormal: there is too much glandular tissue relative to the stroma. It matters because in its atypical forms it is the precursor lesion of endometrioid adenocarcinoma, a cancer of the endometrium, and if it is left untreated it tends to progress toward that cancer.
In brief
Endometrial hyperplasia is the disordered proliferation of the glands of the endometrium, the layer that lines the inside of the uterus.
It results from estrogen stimulating endometrial tissue without the counterbalancing effect of progesterone, a state clinicians call unopposed estrogen. That disordered growth leaves an abnormal gland-to-stroma ratio.
In its atypical forms it is the precursor lesion of endometrioid adenocarcinoma of the endometrium, and without treatment it tends to progress to endometrial cancer.
Sources (1)
- NCBI Bookshelf, U.S. National Library of MedicineEndometrial Hyperplasia (StatPearls)Published
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
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