Is the invasion depth in millimeters valid to determine the prognosis of early invasive cervical adenocarcinoma?: A case of recurrent FIGO stage IA1 cervical adenocarcinoma

Background. Recurrence of FIGO stage IA1 cervical adenocarcinoma is extreme ly rare. We herein report a patient with early invasive cervical adenocarci noma who developed a recurrence in the vaginal stump. Case. A 52-year-old female complained of contact bleeding, Biopsy of the ut erine cervix verified cervical adenocarcinoma, and the patient underwent Ok abayashi hysterectomy with pelvic lymphadnectomy and bilateral adnectomy. H istopathologic examination of the uterus revealed an invasive cancer 3 mm i n depth. Neither lymph node metastasis nor lymph-vascular space invasion wa s observed. However, the depth of her normal cervical gland area was 2 mm o nly, and the cancer invasion involved an area which was deeper than the nor mal cervical gland area. The vaginal stump recurrence developed 4 years aft er surgery. Conclusion. The depth of invasion with reference to that of normal cervical glands may become a possible prognostic factor for early invasive cervical adenoarcinoma (C) 2001 Academic Press.