OBJECTIVE: To investigate the cytologic and pathologic features of end
ocervical lesions in cases of gastric adenocarcinoma metastatic to the
uterine cervix.STUDY DESIGN: From 1986 to 1994, four patients with ga
stric adenocarcinoma metastatic to the uterine cervix were treated at
our department. The cervical cytologic samples were obtained by swabbi
ng and were stained by the Papanicolaou method. Presence of tumor diat
hesis, number of atypical cells, cell arrangement, cytoplastic vacuole
s, cellular and nuclear diameter, chromatin distribution and size of t
he nucleolus were investigated. RESULTS: The smear backgrounds were di
rty (tumor diathesis) in two cases and clean in two. No significant di
fference in the number of atypical cells or in cell or nuclear diamete
r between primary and metastatic adenocarcinoma was shown. Cell arrang
ement was the different cytologic finding between primary and metastat
ic adenocarcinoma. Sheetlike or isolated arrangement was seen frequent
ly in metastatic cervical adenocarcinoma. CONCLUSION: Because differen
t cytologic features have been found in past and the present series, c
ytologic diagnosis of metastatic cervical adenocarcinoma should be mad
e carefully.