Necrotizing small-vessel vasculitis confined to the uterine cervix

Objectives: To report our experience with five cases of apparently isolated small-vessel vasculitis of the uterine cervix, Methods: Case study of five patients with necrotizing vasculitis discovered incidentally in surgical specimens of the female genital tract, and a revi ew of the pertinent literature on this subject, Results: All patients lacked clinical and serological features of the well- delineated vasculitic syndromes. Comprehensive workup failed to yield any e vidence of an underlying disorder, All patients were managed expectantly an d did not develop systemic vasculitis during follow-up ranging from 6 month s to 5 years, Conclusions: isolated vasculitis of the female genital tract can be encount ered as an innocuous finding in otherwise healthy individuals. The cause an d pathogenesis of this disorder remain obscure, Rheumatologists should be f amiliar with this rare and vexing form of vasculitis and with its benign pr ognosis, Copyright (C) 2000 by W.B. Saunders Company.