Abstract: Endometriosis is a common gynecological disease that troubles thousands of women, the incidence of which is 6%-10%. Though, it is a benign disease, the malignant incidence is about 1%. Recently, many researches have revealed endometriosis will increase the risk of ovarian cancer. What′s more, the age diagnosed with endometriosis, the large diameter of endometriosis cysts, infertility and obesity are high risk factors of the malignant transformation. On the contrary, more births, complete excision of endometriosis, unilateral oophorectomy and long-term use of contraceptive drugs will decrease the risk of ovarian carcinoma. There are a lot of theories about the pathogenesis of endometriosis related malignancies, such as oxidative stress and antioxidant defense, inflammatory reaction, hormonal effect, environmental factors and gene mutation, and so on. This article is about the onset risk, high risk factors, protective factors and the pathogenesis of endometriosis associated with malignancies so as to understand this disease more.

Key words: Endometriosis, Canceration, Risk factors, Epidemiologic studies