Female urethral adenocarcinoma arising from urethritis glandularis

Introduction. Female urethral adenocarcinoma is extremely rare and more tha n one tissue of origin has been suggested other than the Skene's gland. Imm unohistochemistry with cytokeratins (CK) 7 and 20 is used to define the ori gin of the tumor. Case report. A R-year-old woman presented with a 2-cm polypoid tumor at the external urethral meatus and bleeding. Wide local excision and bilateral i nguinal lymphadenectomy were performed. Postoperative convalescence was une ventful. It was a poorly differentiated mucinous adenocarcinoma without dir ect urothelial involvement. There were focal areas of intestinal metaplasia . The tumor cells were positive for CR 7 and 20 and negative for prostate-s pecific antigen. Discussion. This case provides supportive evidence that mucinous urethral a denocarcinoma may arise from malignant transformation of urethritis glandul aris. (C) 2000 Academic Press.