Villoglandular adenocarcinoma of cervix--a tumour with bland cytological features: report of a case missed on cytology.
The diagnosis of villoglandular adenocarcinoma of cervix on cytological smears is often missed due to the relatively bland cytological features of this tumour. A 45-year-old female with an exophytic cervical growth had three cervical smears reported as unsatisfactory. A cervical biopsy followed by Wertheim's hysterectomy showed a villoglandular adenocarcinoma (VGA) of cervix. Vaginal recurrence of VGA was again missed on the first post-operative vault smear. The second and third vault smears showed characteristic features of VGA that enabled correct identification. Review of some of the smears previously reported as unsatisfactory showed architectural features of VGA in the three dimensional (3-D) fragments that were previously considered to be benign.
Jayaram
Gita
G
Department of Pathology, University Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. gitajayaram@hotmail.com
Razak
Abdul
A
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D001706:Biopsy; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000473:pathology; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D014626:Vaginal Smears