Adenocarcinoma of the cervix metastatic from a colon primary and diagnosed from a routine pap smear in a 17-year-old woman: a case report

BACKGROUND: Carcinoma metastatic to the uterine cervix is very rare. The most frequent nongenital primary sites are the stomach and colon. CASE: A 17-year-old woman presented to the office for an annual gynecologic examination. The Pap smear and cervical biopsy of a 1.5-cm lesion were positive for adenocarcinoma. Subsequent surgery revealed a sigmoid tumor with extensive abdominal and pelvic carcinomatosis. Following 2 cycles of ineffective chemotherapy, the patient died 4 months after her initial visit to the gynecologist. CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this was the youngest patient in the literature with colon cancer metastatic to the cervix. This case focuses attention on the diagnostic challenge posed by an incidental finding of a cervical adenocarcinoma in the presence of an asymptomatic primary tumor.     

Mixed papillary transitional cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix: a clinicopathologic study of three cases.

Although tumors consisting of a combination of transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) and adenocarcinoma have been described in the endometrium, they have not been documented in the uterine cervix to our knowledge. Three such cervical cases are reported in this article. Three patients, whose ages ranged from 40 to 61 years, presented with vaginal bleeding and malignant cells on routine Papanicolaou smears. The initial diagnoses based on a biopsy specimen were poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma in two patients and adenocarcinoma with a solid component in the third patient. All patients underwent radical hysterectomy. The hysterectomy specimens each contained a polypoid endocervical mass with minimal invasion of the cervical stroma. On microscopic examination, each tumor consisted of a component of papillary TCC admixed with an adenocarcinoma of endometrioid type. Both carcinomatous components were immunoreactive for cytokeratin (CK) 7 but not CK20. The three patients were alive and disease-free from 10 months to 4 years postoperatively. Recognition of this unusual variant of cervical carcinoma is important to delineate its clinical and pathologic features and establish prognostic differences, if any, from other histologic subtypes of cervical carcinoma. Papillary TCC mixed with adenocarcinoma broadens the morphologic spectrum of transitional cell neoplasms of the uterine cervix.     

Carcinoma in episiotomy scars.

The finding of primary or metastatic carcinoma in an episiotomy scar is a rare event; we report three cases. The first patient presented with an abnormal cervical smear and was found to have a primary squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva in an old, healed episiotomy scar. A second patient, diagnosed as having cervical carcinoma 6 months postpartum, was found to have a metastatic deposit in the episiotomy scar during the staging of her disease. The third patient developed adenocarcinoma metastatic from an endocervical primary in an episiotomy scar that presented as a small nodule at the introitus. These cases exemplify the need for careful inspection and biopsy of any nodular lesions in episiotomy scars as part of the initial assessment and follow-up of patients with premalignant or malignant lesions of the lower genital tract.     

Lethal endometrial recurrence after cone biopsy for microinvasive cervical adenocarcinoma

The follow up of microinvasive cervical adenocarcinoma treated conservatively is difficult because recurrences are often out of range and Pap smears difficult to interpret. A 30-year-old woman with a microinvasive adenocarcinoma with clear, but narrow, margins on cone biopsy was treated conservatively. After 2 years of close follow up in which no recurrence was detected, dilatation and curettage performed for infertility revealed adenocarcinoma invading secretory endometrium. The carcinoma resembled her cervical adenocarcinoma histologically, immunohistochemically and was HPV DNA 16 positive. A radical hysterectomy showed carcinoma involving the entire endometrium and the uppermost 3 mm of the endocervical canal, but sparing the remainder of the cervix. The patient died of disseminated carcinoma at the age of 34 years. The location of the recurrence was the reason it escaped detection for so long despite close follow up.     

Invasive adenocarcinoma of mixed endocervical and clear cell type, associated with invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix uteri. A case report

A case of invasive adenocarcinoma (predominantly of endocervical type but also with clear cell elements blended in part of the growth) associated with squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix is reported in a young woman aged 18 years. Malignant squamous and atypical glandular cells were detected in Papanicolaou (Pap) smears, which raised the question of a mixed tumor. A diagnosis of cervical cancer was justified by means of a punch biopsy and the patient was treated by modified radical hysterectomy. Histologic and immunohistochemical examination of the hysterectomy specimen revealed two distinct types of an invasive malignant tumor, i.e., of glandular and squamous cell origin, closely related but not integrated. Interestingly, the glandular component comprised both endocervical and clear cell elements. Careful consideration of squamous or glandular atypia in cytological smears may lead to a more precise diagnosis, especially in young women.     

Value of endocervical curettage in the staging of endometrial carcinoma

The prognosis for women with endometrial cancer correlates with stage of disease. Spread to the cervix distinguishes Stage II from Stage I disease. To assess the accuracy of endocervical curettage (ECC) in predicting cervical involvement by endometrial adenocarcinoma, we examined and assigned to one of four groups the ECC from 147 women treated between 1980 and 1985. Ultimate determination of spread to the cervix was based on examination of subsequent hysterectomy specimens. In the hysterectomy specimen 19 of 147 women (13%) had cervical involvement demonstrated. Five women had tumor clearly within the endocervical tissue of the ECC (Group I), and three of these five (60%) had spread of tumor to the cervix in the hysterectomy specimen. At hysterectomy, 13 of 41 women (32%) with tumor present but not contiguous with endocervical tissue within the ECC (Group II) had cervical involvement. Of the 80 women without tumor in the curettage (Group III), one (1.2%) had cervical involvement by tumor at hysterectomy. Two of the 21 women (9.5%) with curettings considered insufficient for diagnosis (Group IV) had spread of adenocarcinoma to the cervix within the hysterectomy specimen. We also compared the results of ECC performed at our institution with those performed at referring hospitals and found a significant difference between them in ability to obtain definitive results. We conclude that (a) the absence of carcinoma in ECC is highly predictive of absence of cervical involvement by endometrial carcinoma; (b) ECC having tumor within endocervical tissue is a good predictor of cervical involvement by tumor.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Primary signet-ring cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix with long term follow-up: case report

BACKGROUND: The uterine cervix represents an exceptional localization of signet-ring cell adenocarcinoma (SRCA). Most commonly, endocervical tumors with such morphology are metastatic from the breast or gastrointestinal tract while primary pure or almost pure tumors are extremely rare. No previous case of primary pure endocervical SRCA with follow-up longer than three years has been found in the literature. CASE REPORT: The present report describes such a case of a 46-year-old woman without evidence of recurrence eight years after the diagnosis. The patient was referred to the Gynecology Department for persistent abnormal vaginal bleeding of three months duration. Specular examination and colposcopy revealed a cervical polypoid lesion occupying the posterior lip of the cervix and protruding from the external uterine orifice. A biopsy of the lesion was interpreted by the pathologist as SRCA. An extensive search for an extrapelvic primary cancer was undertaken but revealed no evidence of malignancy. The patient underwent radical hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy and pelvic and paraaortic lymph node sampling for FIGO Stage 1B1 cervical cancer without any adjuvant chemo- or radiotherapy. The histological diagnosis showed neoplastic signet-ring cells confined in the head of the cervical polyps with minimal stromal infiltration. After surgery the patient underwent close followup including periodic cervicovaginal smears, bimanual vaginal examination, complete laboratory tests, ultrasound and abdominopelvic computed tomography. CONCLUSIONS: The prognostic relevance of primitive pure SRCA in the uterine cervix is unclear because of the relatively small number of cases. However the two early deaths out of six reported cases and the absence of follow-up longer than three years for the other affected patients, seem to suggest an aggressive behavior. The present case represents an exceptional long-term survival, probably related to an early diagnosis and a prominent polypoid growth of the neoplasia outside the uterus.     

Adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix with choriocarcinomatous and hepatoid differentiation: report of a case.

A case of adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix that showed choriocarcinomatous and hepatoid differentiation was encountered in a 65-year-old woman. She presented with genital bleeding and had multiple metastatic nodules in the lungs. At operation, a large, hemorrhagic, and necrotic tumor was found in the uterine cervix. The major portion of the tumor consisted of typical choriocarcinoma admixed with minor areas of hepatoid carcinoma and endocervical adenocarcinoma. Human chorionic gonadotropin and alpha-fetoprotein were detected in tumor cells in the choriocarcinomatous and hepatoid areas, respectively. The patient died of pulmonary metastasis 4 months after the operation. The coexistence of choriocarcinomatous and hepatoid carcinoma in an endocervical adenocarcinoma has not been reported previously. Both heterotopic components were probably derived from aberrant differentiation (or neometaplasia) of the somatic epithelial cells of the endocervical adenocarcinoma.     

Recurrent invasive adenocarcinoma after hysterectomy for cervical adenocarcinoma in situ

BACKGROUND: Unlike its squamous counterpart, therapy for cervical adenocarcinoma in situ with positive endocervical cone margin remains controversial. CASE: A 52-year-old gravida 2, para 1,0,1,1, presented with vaginal bleeding. Gynecologic history was significant for cervical cold knife conization with a positive endocervical margin and endocervical curettage with atypical endocervical cells. Repeat cone biopsy was considered unsafe given the large initial cone specimen. An extrafascial hysterectomy was performed 5 weeks later and pathology confirmed a disease-free cervix. Pap smear performed 1 year later was interpreted as recurrent adenocarcinoma but later downgraded to inflammation. Inspection and random biopsies of the vaginal cuff revealed only inflammation. Two subsequent Pap smears also returned inflammation. Seventeen months after the hysterectomy physical examination revealed a 2 x 3-cm smooth mass at the vaginal cuff. Biopsy revealed invasive adenocarcinoma. The patient underwent an upper vaginectomy followed by postoperative pelvic radiation. CONCLUSION: This case suggests that despite extrafascial hysterectomy for presumed adenocarcinoma in situ of the cervix, a residual focus could remain and present later as invasive adenocarcinoma.     

Four synchronous female genital malignancies: the ovary,cervix, endometrium and fallopian tube

Objective To present a unique case of a 63 year-old woman with coexistent adenocarcinoma of the ovary, endometrium, cervix and fallopian tube. Materials and methods A case report from a tertiary health center. Results A woman presenting with postmenopausal bleeding and abdominal distantion was assessed by endometrial biopsy and explorative surgery. The frozen section of the mass on the right adnex revealed malign mucinous carcinoma of the ovary. As usual, optimal debulking was performed as initial surgical staging procedure of ovarian cancer. The microscopic examination of the right ovary revealed a typical mucinous cystadenocarcinoma. Furthermore, the focal endometrial irregularity at the left uterine cornus turned out to be a well differentiated endometrial carcinoma of the endometrioid type with <1/3 myometrial invasion. The pale infiltrative lesion in the cervix also turned out to be an adenocarcinoma of the endocervical type with deep stromal invasion and areas of diffuse glandular dysplasia and in-situ glandular neoplasia at the periphery. Besides, several sections from the left fallopian tube uncovered diffuse dysplasia in the lining epithelium and a focus of adenocarcinoma with papillary and cribriform pattern. Discussion When compared with patients having metastatic lesions, most synchronous female malignancies are accompanied with early stage and low-grade with a more favorable prognosis. However, there is paucity of data for the exact criterion to distinguish primary tumors from metastatic lesions. In such cases, the validity of immunohistochemical and cloning studies are not clear.     

Primary choriocarcinoma of the uterine cervix in a postmenopausal patient: a case report

BACKGROUND: Primary cervical choriocarcinoma seen in a postmenopausal patient is a very rare entity. CASE: Primary choriocarcinoma of the uterine cervix was diagnosed in a 54-year-old woman. She had admitted to our clinic with vaginal bleeding and had been postmenopausal for 1 year at the time of diagnosis. A cervical tumoral mass was seen in her pelvic examination and cervical biopsy revealed squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix. Pelvic examination under anesthesia was done and patient was accepted as FIGO Stage IIA. Type III hysterectomy with bilateral salphingoopherectomy and bilateral pelvic-paraaortic lymph node dissection was carried out. Postoperative pathological evaluation of the surgical specimen showed that case was a primary choriocarcinoma of the cervix. CONCLUSION: This is one of the few reported cases of cervical choriocarcinoma in a postmenopausal patient. The most appropriate theory for the development of this tumor is metaplastic differentiation of the tumor from another histologic type.     

Primary signet ring cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix: A clinicopathologic study of two cases with review of the literature

Haswani P, Arseneau J, Ferenczy A. Primary signet ring cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix: A clinicopathologic study of two cases with review of the literature. Int J Gynecol Cancer 1998; 8 : 374–379.
Signet ring cell carcinoma of the endocervix is most commonly considered to be metastatic in origin. We describe two cases of apparently primary cervical signet ring cell adenocarcinoma occurring in patients aged 33 and 38 years, respectively. Both patients had been treated previously for cervical "condylomas". The lesions, occupying the posterior lip of the cervix, were formed predominantly of malignant neoplastic signet ring cells. One case was positive for HPV type 18 and coexisted with adenocarcinoma in situ and a high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL). One patient died 18 months after the diagnosis of carcinoma with massive intra-abdominal metastasis; autopsy was not performed. The second patient is alive and well nine months postsurgery and undergoing pelvic radiotherapy for FIGO stage IB1 adenocarcinoma with one of the pelvic nodes containing a metastasis. Although in neither of the two cases was absolute proof obtained of the absence of a gastrointestinal tract tumor, the clinical presentation of the tumors, the history of previous HPV infection of the cervix, the coexistent in situ adenocarcinoma and HSIL and the detection of HPV type 18 in one case lent support for a primary cervical origin of this rare form of adenocarcinoma.     

Stage IA1 cervical adenocarcinoma: definition and treatment

Objective: To propose a definition for stage IA₁ cervical adenocarcinoma, based on the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) staging system, and to determine if patients meeting criteria might be candidates for conservative surgery.Methods: Two hundred women were diagnosed with early-stage cervical adenocarcinoma from 1982 to 1996. Histopathologic sections were reviewed by a gynecologic pathologist. Medical records were reviewed, and patients included in this study had microscopically identifiable lesions, up to 3 mm invasive depth, up to 7 mm tumor width, and negative margins if cone biopsy was performed.Results: Twenty-one patients with microinvasive adenocarcinoma met criteria for FIGO stage IA₁ carcinoma of the cervix. The median (range) follow-up was 76 (30–172) months and median (range) patient age was 38 (24–75) years. Definitive treatment included type II or III radical hysterectomy in 16 cases, simple abdominal or vaginal hysterectomy in four cases, and loop electrosurgical excision procedure in one case; one patient received adjuvant pelvic radiation. The histologic subtypes were endocervical adenocarcinoma in 18 cases, adenosquamous carcinoma in two cases, and clear-cell adenocarcinoma in one case. There was no evidence of parametrial invasion or lymph node metastases in any patient who had radical surgery, and there were no disease recurrences.Conclusion: Patients with microinvasive adenocarcinoma who met criteria for FIGO stage IA₁ cervical carcinoma had disease limited to the cervix, and conservative surgery, such as cone biopsy or simple hysterectomy, might offer them definitive treatment.     

Primary small cell carcinoma of the kidney: report of a case

Primary small cell carcinoma (SCC) of the kidney is an extremely rare neoplasm. The morphological, immunohistological and ultrastructural features are closely akin to primary SCC of the lung. The case of a 38-year-old married male, nonsmoker, with primary small cell carcinoma of the kidney and associated multiple bony metastases is reported. Roentgenographic studies exhibited a tumor mass 3 cm in diameter over the middle portion of the left kidney. A CT scan of the cervical and thoracic spines, and a whole body bone scan displayed multiple osteolytic lesions suggesting multiple bony metastatic lesions. A chest X ray and CT scan of the nasopharynx demonstrated no significant lesions. A complete workup was performed followed by a left nephrectomy. Histologically, the tumor revealed SCC of the kidney. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells demonstrated immunoreactivity to cytokeratin (CK), neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and produced negative stains to argentaffin, argyrophil, S-100 and chromogranin A. Ultrastructurally, these neoplastic small cells revealed a few cytoplasmic dense-core neuroendocrine-type differentiated secretory granules, measuring 110 to 115 nm in size. Thus, adjuvant therapy, supplemented with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, was employed. The patient was alive and well 6 months after surgery. To the best of our knowledge, there are four documented cases of primary SCC of the kidney. In this article, the light microscopic, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural studies of renal SCC are presented and suggest a renal pelvic epithelial origin of renal SCC. Cognitively renal SCC appears to be an aggressive tumor, regardless of the degree of neuroendocrine differentiation.     

Hemiballismus and brain metastases from squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix.

BACKGROUND: Brain metastases from cervical carcinoma are rare. Accompanying symptoms depend on the location of the metastatic lesions. Hemiballismus refers to a rare movement disorder characterized by involuntary, large amplitude movements of the limbs of one side of the body. The area of the brain controlling the limb movement is in the subthalamic nucleus of the contralateral side. In contrast, the usual location of brain metastases from cervical cancer is in the frontal and parietal parenchyma. There have been reported cases of hemiballismus secondary to metastatic carcinoma of the breast, lung, and gall bladder. This is the first reported case of putative cervical cancer metastases associated with hemiballismus. CASE: A 38-year-old Caucasian female was diagnosed with FIGO stage II-B poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix. Para-aortic lymph nodes were positive for metastatic disease. The patient was treated by radiation with hydroxyurea chemosensitization. Four months after the initial diagnosis she presented with acute onset of hemiballismus. Magnetic resonance imaging of the head revealed a solitary lesion in the left cerebral peduncle extending into the inferior aspect of the left basal ganglia complex. The lesion was inaccessible to biopsy or excision. Palliative radiation therapy to the brain was unsuccessful and the patient expired 1 year following primary presentation. CONCLUSION: Treatment of hemiballismus is directed to its underlying causes. Some brain metastases from cervical cancer may be palliated or even cured by surgical resection and radiation therapy. Although not conclusive, it appears that hemiballismus in a setting of metastatic cervical cancer has a poor prognosis and little benefit from irradiation.     

Neuroendocrine signet ring cell adenocarcinoma of the endocervix

Abstract. Cardosi RJ, Reedy MB, van Nagell JR Jr, Spires SE. Neuroendocrine signet ring cell adenocarcinoma of the endocervix.
Signet ring cell morphology in mixed carcinoma of the uterine cervix is not uncommon. It is rare for such morphology to predominate, however, and there are no reported cases of a signet ring cell adenocarcinoma (SRCA) of the endocervix with neuroendocrine differentiation.
A 53-year-old woman presented with abnormal perimenopausal bleeding, and uterine curettings revealed a signet ring cell carcinoma. After clinical evaluation to eliminate a metastasis from an extra-uterine primary, the patient underwent surgical therapy and staging, and was treated with postoperative adjuvant chemoradiation. Pathologic evaluation found the tumor to arise from the endocervix and to be of predominant signet ring cell morphology. Immunohistochemical staining revealed that the tumor exhibited neuroendocrine differentiation and helped confirm its endocervical origin. The patient remains without evidence of disease 6 months after primary therapy.
This is the first case report of endocervical SRCA with neuroendocrine differentiation (SRCA with features of carcinoid tumor). Discussion of this entity is provided.     

Metastatic duodenal carcinoma simulating primary mucinous tumor of the ovary

Case report We report a case of metastatic duodenal carcinoma simulating a primary ovarian mucinous tumor, occurring in a 53-year-old woman who had undergone pancreatoduodenectomy for duodenal adenocarcinoma approximately 18 months previously. The surgically removed bilateral ovaries revealed multicystic tumors. Histological examination showed they closely mimicked primary ovarian mucinous tumors. Immunohistochemical examination using cytokeratin 7 and 20, and CA125 indicated that the bilateral ovarian tumors were metastasis from duodenal carcinoma.Conclusions Duodenal carcinoma can be a rare primary focus of metastatic tumor simulating primary ovarian neoplasm.     

The use of MRI in the diagnosis and management of a bulky cervical carcinoma

BACKGROUND: In the treatment of gynecologic cancer, surgical planning depends on the site and extent of disease. The evaluation of the origin of a large pelvic mass with combined pelvic examination and ultrasound is often adequate. However, the following case report illustrates the utility of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) when sonographic findings are indeterminate and the origin of a pelvic mass is unclear. CASE: A 73-year-old woman presented for her first gynecologic exam in over 40 years. On speculum examination the cervix was not visible. A large, mobile pelvic mass was palpated during physical examination. Pelvic ultrasound revealed a large, cystic pelvic mass thought to be ovarian in origin. Surgery for presumed ovarian carcinoma was planned. Because a vaginal Pap smear revealed squamous-cell carcinoma, MRI was performed for further evaluation. MRI demonstrated a blood distended uterus with a large cervical tumor obstructing the endocervical os. After cervical dilatation under sonographic guidance, evacuation of the hematometrium was performed. Multiple biopsies of the cervix confirmed the diagnosis of a bulky Stage IIA squamous-cell carcinoma of the cervix. The patient was subsequently treated with concomitant chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Follow-up MRI demonstrated an excellent treatment response. Modified radical hysterectomy was performed demonstrating very small residual tumor. CONCLUSIONS: Magnetic resonance imaging, through multiplanar capabilities and high-contrast resolution, is a valuable tool that can assist the clinician in the evaluation, diagnosis, and management of challenging gynecologic malignancies.     

Gastrointestinal signet ring carcinoma metastatic to the cervix during pregnancy. A case report.

Extragenital carcinoma metastatic to the cervix is uncommon. In such a case a complication not previously described occurred in association with pregnancy: gastrointestinal signet ring carcinoma metastatic to the cervix. The entity was initially detected on a histologic examination of cervical biopsy specimens and was confirmed with gastric endoscopic biopsies, thereby preventing an exploratory laparotomy. The patient declined palliative chemotherapy.