Cytodynamics of endometrial hyperplasia and neoplasia, Part II: in vitro DNA histoautoradiography.

The cytokinetics of normal, hyperplastic, and neoplastic human endometrium were evaluated by in-vitro double labeling with low- and high-dose radiothymidine. Relative to cyclic, proliferative endometrium, the mean S-phase duration was shorter in anovulatory, persistent proliferative endometrium, cystic glandular hyperplasia, and adenomatous hyperplasia without atypia, similar in adenomatous hyperplasia with severe atypia (AAH), and significantly prolonged in carcinoma in situ and invasive carcinoma. The S-phase patterns suggest a pathogenetic relationship between hyperplasias of increasing atypia as well as between hyperplasia and carcinoma, with carcinoma in situ as a transitional state between AAH and invasive carcinoma.