Abstract
Lynch syndrome accounts for the majority of familial endometrial cancers. This paper emphasizes the importance of familial endometrial cancer in the identification of Lynch syndorome. Endometrial cancer is essential as a “sentinel cancer” for Lynch syndrome since the diagnoses of some families are based on women with endometrial cancers. Therefore, gynecologists play an important role in the identification of Lynch syndrome. In women with Lynch syndrome demonstrating metachronous diagnoses of colorectal and endometrial cancers, half were diagnosed with colorectal cancer first, and the remaining were diagnosed with endometrial cancer first. These findings suggest that women with Lynch syndrome should be offered information on both colorectal and endometrial cancers. It has been reported that endometrial cancer arising solely in the lower uterine segment is associated with Lynch syndrome, and hMSH6 mutations play an important role in Lynch syndrome-associated endometrial cancer. There is room for further investigation of the molecular characteristics of familial endometrial cancer.
