Case Report: Endocervical Stromal Sarcoma of the Cervix

A 50-year old perimenopausal woman with clinical symptoms suggestive of invasive carcinoma of the cervix was referred to our Gynaecological Clinic. Chest X-rays, blood film appearance, mid-stream urine and intravenous urography were essentially normal. Histological examination revealed that the lesion was an endometrial stromal sarcoma, an extremely rare form of sarcoma in the uterine cervix. Features included stellate and plump spindle-shaped cells with scanty cytoplasm and abnormal mitoses of 3-4 per high power field. Histopathologists are reminded to keep the lesion in mind when examining cervical biopsies or hysterectomy specimens so as not to miss the diagnosis. Key Words: Cervix,Endocervix, Stromal Sarcoma, Malignancy [Trop J Obstet Gynaecol, 2003, 20: 167-169

Non-neoplastic diseases of the cervix in Nigerians : A histopathological study

BACKGROUND: Diseases of the cervix are common in young sexually active women. Non-neoplastic diseases are predominantly inflammatory and are common but there are a few publications on the subject compared to neoplastic diseases of the cervix. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The surgical day books of the Histopathology department of the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex Ile-Ife, Nigeria from the year 1990–1999(Ten years) were studied for all cervical biopsies. RESULTS: Four hundred (400) cervical surgical biopsies were received during this period. 150 (37.5%) of the cases were non-neoplastic lesions. Age range was 20–69 years with peak incidence at 40–49 years. Histological distribution showed 123 cases (82%) were chronic non-specific cervicitis. Eighteen cases (12%) were chronic cervicitis with koilocytic change pathognomonic of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) infection, two- third (12cases) of which occur within 40–49years. There were five cases (3.3%) of chronic granulomatous cervicitis, three cases (2.0%) of acute cervicitis and only one case (0.7%) of microglandular endocervical hyperplasia . CONCLUSION: All the histological types were found within the peak age incidence of 40–49 years. Chronic non-specific cervicitis was the most common non-neoplastic cervical lesion and it occurs in all age groups of women studied. In 12% of patients it is associated with cytopathic effect of HPV. This has obvious implication for the occurrence of carcinoma of the cervix in our country. We recommend routine pap smear test in this group of patients especially, as a way of reducing the occurrence of carcinoma of the cervix

Histological Pattern of Cervical Malignancies in Southwestern Nigeria

Background: Malignant diseases of the uterine cervix are typically common among women in the developing countries of the world where they cause a lot of reproductive ill-health and mortality at the prime of age. Objectives:The aim of this study is to present the histological pattern of cervical malignancies as they present at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC) Ile-Ife between 1990 and 1999 Materials and Methods: The data for the study was collected retrospectively from the surgical daybooks of the histopathology department of the OAUTHC Ile-Ife from January 1990 to December 1999. All cervical biopsies and hysterectomy specimens from which a histopathological diagnosis of malignant tumour of the cervix was made form the subject for this study. Results: The results revealed 192 cases (45.5%) of cervical malignancies out of the 422 cervical surgical biopsies over the period of study. The age range of the patients was 20 to 89 years with a peak age incidence of 40 49 years. Histopathological study revealed squamous cell carcinoma in 85.4% with a preponderance of Large cell nonkeratinising squamous cell carcinoma in 41.1%, keratinising squamous cell carcinoma 32.3% while micro invasive carcinoma and small cell non keratinising tumours are seen in 1.0% and 9.9% respectively. Adenocarcinoma, adeno- squamous carcinoma, metastatic carcinoma and sarcomas occur in 8.3%, 3.6%, 1.6% and 1.0% respectively. Conclusion:Squamous cell carcinoma constitutes the main histological type with a high preponderance of large cell non-keratinising squamous cell carcinoma Key Words: Histological, Pattern, cervical, malignancies, Nigeria. [Trop J Obstet Gynaecol, 2004;21:118-121