ADENOMA MALIGNUM OF THE CERVIX - A REAPPRAISAL

We here report a case of adenoma malignum of the cervix in a 59 year o ld woman with a 6 month history of a clear watery vaginal discharge. T he tumor was an incidental finding in a hysterectomy specimen. Histolo gical examination revealed irregular neoplastic glands formed by mucin ous columnar epithelial cells with minimal cytological atypia and a fo cal stromal reaction. The endothelium of several large veins within th e cervical stroma was replaced by neoplastic cells. All seven preopera tive Pap smears were normal. The ovaries were normal. The difficulties in making a histological diagnosis of adenoma malignum justifies its separation from the more common well differentiated cervical adenocarc inomas. Furthermore in view of the difference in prognosis, cytohistom orphology and the known association with ovarian tumors, we recommend that the term ''adenoma malignum'' be retained but restricted to the m ucinous endocervical type of minimal deviation adenocarcinoma.