title: Vulvar keratinizing squamous cell carcinoma in a 26-year-old woman.
abstract: A 26-year-old Hispanic woman complaining of "itching" and "herpetic lesions" on the vulva for 9 months was seen at a university hospital. On physical examination, multiple vulvar masses were noted. Biopsies taken from these lesions showed invasive keratinizing squamous cell carcinoma. The vulvectomy specimen revealed 4 tumor masses, the largest located on the mons pubis. Although the incidence of vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia has increased in recent years, only very few cases of invasive carcinoma have been reported in young women. The tumors that occur at a younger age characteristically have basaloid or warty histology, in contrast to those occurring in older women, which usually are well-differentiated keratinizing carcinomas. We believe this is an unusual case of vulvar squamous cell carcinoma. In addition to our patient's young age, her tumor had a histologic profile usually found in lesions of an elderly woman. The tumor was negative for human papillomavirus by polymerase chain reaction analysis and was positive for p53 by immunohistochemistry.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, 78299-3900, USA.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Echeverri
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Stoler
authors.forename: P T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Valente
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001706:Biopsy; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D007633:Keratins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008197:Lymph Node Excision; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000032:analysis; D014846:Vulvar Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery
chemical_list: D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; D007633:Keratins