Vulvar edema in pregnancy

Reported is a case of massive vulvar edema complicating pregnancy probably as a result of mycotic vulvovaginitis or chemical vulvitis associated with drugs being used in the medication. Medical therapy failed to relieve the edema while the mechanical drainage showed to be an effective method of treatment.     

Vulvar leiomyosarcoma in pregnancy

To our knowledge, this is the first case of vulvar leiomyosarcoma occurring during pregnancy to be reported. The neoplasm was resected immediately after a term vaginal delivery. A wide local excision of the vulva with bilateral superficial inguinal node sampling was performed 6 weeks post partum. Four previous cases of vulvar sarcoma occurring in pregnancy are reviewed. The need to perform biopsy of vulvar lesions during pregnancy is emphasized.     

Vulvar epithelioid sarcoma in pregnancy

BACKGROUND: Epithelioid sarcoma is a soft tissue tumor rarely found centrally and even less commonly on the vulva. Vulvar sarcoma in pregnancy is also exceedingly rare with only five cases reported to date, none of which have been an epithelioid sarcoma. CASE: We report a case of a 29-year-old woman presenting with a vulvar epithelioid sarcoma at 36 weeks of gestation. The patient underwent a radical resection 6 weeks postpartum followed by chemotherapy. Despite a radical hemivulvectomy and doxorubicin and ifosfamide chemotherapy, she developed pulmonary metastasis and died of tumor-related pulmonary failure secondary to her disease 612 months after diagnosis. To our knowledge this is the first case of a vulvar epithelioid sarcoma presenting during pregnancy. The English literature is reviewed and a total of 18 previous cases of vulvar epithelioid sarcoma have been reported outside of pregnancy. Insight into the biological behavior and therapeutic management of this disease is discussed. CONCLUSION: The optimal management of vulvar epithelioid sarcoma remains to be determined. However, it would seem that early and aggressive surgical resection provides the best possibility for cure. The role of radiation and/or chemotherapy remains to be determined.     

Vulvar myiasis during pregnancy

Myiasis is a parasitic infestation caused by the larvae of several fly species. Diagnosis and treatment are simple. The location of this infestation at the vulvar area is, however, an extremely rare occurrence. The authors present two cases of vulvar myiasis affecting pregnant women. The first case is a 19-year-old pregnant girl with vulvar myiasis and concomitant syphilis, vaginal trichomoniasis and genital candidiasis. The patient was also HIV-positive. The second case is a 17-year-old pregnant girl with vulvar myiasis associated with extensive vulvar condyloma acuminatum lesions.     

Vulvar carcinoma in premenopausal Jamaican women

Between the years 1958 and 1973, 119 patients with primary invasive cancer of the vulva were treated at the University Hospital of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica. Seventy-seven (64.7%) were premenopausal women. Because the pattern of the disease differed from that in late middle and older aged Jamaican women, the results of the disease are presented. The analysis stresses that vulvar carcinoma before menopause in our community is rare in the absence of various sexually transmitted granulomatous diseases of the vulva.     

Vulvar carcinoma: natural history

On the basis of our clinical experience and a careful revision of the literature, we have attempted to identify the natural history of vulvar carcinoma by verifying the real evolutive possibility of these lesions, their possible genesis, the latent period between pre-invasive and invasive forms, and some events which seem to play a significant role in the onset of the invasive form in this period. These considerations indicate a new clinical and study approach to carcinoma in situ, which would thus become a pathology characterized by a more precise pathogenetic and evolutive individuality.     

Vulvar mucus observations and the probability of pregnancy

OBJECTIVE: To assess the day-specific and cycle-specific probabilities of conception leading to clinical pregnancy, in relation to the timing of intercourse and vulvar mucus observations. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study of women beginning use of the Creighton Model Fertility Care System in Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, and California. Data were abstracted from Creighton Model Fertility Care System records, including women's daily standardized vulvar observations of cervical mucus discharge, days of intercourse, and clinically evident pregnancy (conception). Established statistical models were used to estimate day-specific probabilities of conception. RESULTS: Data were analyzed from 1681 cycles with 81 conceptions from 309 normally fertile couples (initially seeking to avoid pregnancy) and from 373 cycles with 30 conceptions from 117 subfertile couples (who were initially trying to achieve pregnancy). The highest probability of pregnancy occurred on the peak day of vulvar mucus observation (.38 for normally fertile couples and.14 for subfertile couples). The probability of pregnancy was greater than.05 for normally fertile couples from 3 days before to 2 days after the peak, and for subfertile couples from 1 day before to 1 day after the peak. The cycle-specific probability of conception correlated with the quality of mucus discharge in normally fertile couples but not in subfertile couples. CONCLUSION: Standardized vulvar observations of vaginal mucus discharge identify the days with the greatest likelihood of conception from intercourse in normal fertility and subfertility and provide an indicator of the overall potential for conception in a given menstrual cycle in normal fertility.     

外阴癌广泛切除术后患者外阴重建术的临床分析

目的探讨外阴癌广泛切除术后创面修复、外阴重建的手术治疗方法。方法回顾性分析2003年3月—2005年10月北京协和医院收治的14例外阴癌患者的临床资料,14例患者均行外阴广泛性局部扩大切除术,采用带蒂股前外侧皮瓣或下蒂腹直肌肌皮瓣修复外阴缺损创面,并行外阴重建术。结果14例行外阴重建术的患者中,有13例患者的皮瓣全部成活,于术后12～14 d切口拆线,切口Ⅰ期愈合,其中1例行股前外侧皮瓣转移修复术的患者腹股沟区手术切口发生感染,但其皮瓣及供区植皮Ⅰ期愈合;1例行股前外侧皮瓣转移修复术的患者皮瓣发生部分坏死,面积约4 cm×6 cm,经局部换药、创面植皮治疗,术后36 d完全愈合。14例患者接受了2～20个月的术后随访,重建后的外阴形态丰满,富有弹性,阴道口无狭窄,疤痕无明显挛缩。结论应用股前外侧皮瓣或腹直肌肌皮瓣转移修复外阴癌广泛切除术后的皮肤软组织缺损,进行外阴重建,可使患者在手术切除肿瘤后获得外阴解剖外观及部分功能的恢复,具有临床应用价值。     

Vulvar carcinoma associated with lichen sclerosus. Experience at the Florence,Italy, Vulvar Clinic

OBJECTIVE: To compare demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with lichen sclerosus (LS)-associated squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the vulva with those of patients with tumors not histologically associated with LS in a series of patients with vulvar SCC not HPV correlated. STUDY DESIGN: We retrospectively reviewed histologic specimens and clinical files of all vulvar SCCs referred to the Vulvar Clinic, University of Florence, Florence, Italy, since 1990. RESULTS: Twenty-five out of the 72 cases in this study (34.7%) were LS associated. Among these cases, 8 (32%) were diagnosed with LS before occurrence of the cancer and received treatment for the disease. In 17 cases the diagnosis of LS was simultaneous with that of SCC; in 13 cases the diagnosis was achieved by clinical examination and confirmed afterwards histologically. In 4 cases this was confirmed only by means of histologic examination. The shared profile of patients with LS-associated vulvar SCC was a subject (mean age, 72 years) seldom with a past medical history of vitiligo (16% of cases), with invasive cancer (92% of cases), clinically characterized by an exophitic tumor (73%), seldom ulcerated (18%) or showing hyperkeratosis (9%). Labia majora (32%), labia minora (27%) and vestibule (23%) were the most frequently involved sites. In most cases (80%) the cancer was limited to 1/3 of the vulvar region. An itch was the most frequent symptom. However, for all of these variables, no overall statistically significant difference was found with patients who had SCCs not associated with LS. CONCLUSION: The experience of the Vulvar Clinic, University of Florence, confirms the suggested role of LS as a possible precursor of vulvar carcinoma since 32% of our cases not HPV related were LS associated. We demonstrated that the profile of patients with LS-associated cancer does not differ from that of patients with cancer not associated with LS, excluding HPV-related cases. The existence of accessory conditions, probably needed to promote the progression from LS to cancer in a minority of subjects remains to be established.     

Vulvar carcinoma presenting during pregnancy,associated with recurrent bone marrow hypoplasia: a case report and literature review

BACKGROUND: Carcinoma of the vulva has predominantly been a disease of the elderly. Although occasionally it occurs in women under the age of 40 years, carcinoma of the vulva has been rarely diagnosed in pregnancy. Bone marrow hypoplasia can occur as a transient, pregnancy-related event; however, the recurrence of this pathology in future pregnancies is quite rare in the literature. CASE: A 29-year-old woman in her second pregnancy that was complicated by bone marrow hypoplasia had developed a squamous vulvar carcinoma. Each of these two conditions are quite rare in pregnancy, they may have occurred by chance, but there is a hypothetical possibility that bone marrow hypoplasia is an autoimmune disorder, with vulvar carcinoma occurring as a further complication in this immunoimpaired individual. CONCLUSION: This case also emphasizes the need to consider malignancy as a differential diagnosis in vulvar ulcers occurring in young women.     

Vulvar basal cell carcinoma: an infrequently metastasizing neoplasm

A case of metastasizing basal cell carcinoma (BCC) of the vulva is presented and compared with 10 nonmetastasizing tumors of the same histologic type by various clinicopathologic parameters. The former neoplasm manifested several features that distinguished it from most of the nonmetastasizing tumors, such as vaginal bleeding at presentation; advanced clinical stage; invasion of subcutaneous fat, urethra, and vagina; tumor thickness greater than 1 cm; and a morphealike pattern of growth. This series, in conjunction with previously published observations, would suggest that vulvar BCC behaves much like its counterpart in sites other than the vulva, locally recurring but metastasizing only on rare occasion. Simple wide excision of the tumor is curative in the majority of cases. More aggressive surgery may be warranted for large tumors that are locally destructive and extend into the subcutaneous fat, like our metastasizing case and the two other examples of metastasizing vulvar BCC in the literature. In this report, treatment options for vulvar BCC are discussed, as well as the use of the term "basosquamous" carcinoma, and whether vulvar BCC may be a manifestation of a more generalized syndrome of cutaneous basal cell neoplasia in some cases.     

Vulvar carcinoma: a retrospective analysis of 80 patients

We evaluated the files of 80 women who were treated for vulvar carcinoma. In 13 women radiotherapy was used as primary treatment, in 45 cases postoperatively and in 22 women because of local recurrence. Patients older than 60 years had a significantly worse 5-year survival rate (39%) than younger women (57%) (p=0.02). The 5-year survival rate for patients with negative nodes was 72% versus 46% for the N1- and 47% for the N2-status, respectively (p=0.027). The 5-year actuarial survival rate for patients with tumor manifestation in the clitoris was 77.9% versus 26.1% for patients with tumors in the labia majora (p=0.0044). There was no difference in survival in patients who had been treated with radical vulvectomy and bilateral groin dissection plus local radiotherapy when compared with patients who had been irradiated (whole pelvis) after tumor resection alone. The 5-year survival rates and the median survival time were identical in both groups (61%/62 months). Received: 24 June 1998 / Accepted: 28 August 1998