Cervical/vaginal endometriosis with atypia: A cytohistopathologic study

Abstract

Neoplastic or atypical glandular epithelial cells of uncertain significance were reported in the preoperative smears from 10 women with cervical or vaginal endometriosis. Subsequent conization and vaginal biopsy revealed endometriotic tissue with variable epithelial atypia, but no evidence of in situ or invasive carcinoma. Review of the smears revealed appearances similar to those seen in "high cervical sampling" or in smears from patients with tubal metaplasia. The presence of large cohesive cell sheets with retained cell polarity and well-defined cytoplasmic edges, of endometrial cell "whorls" and tubular structures, and of endometrial-like stromal cells coupled with the absence of three-dimensional cell clusters, peripheral cell-sheet crowding, "cell feathering," and pseudostratified cell strips are features helpful in the distinction between cervical/vaginal endometriosis and adenocarcinoma. Diagn. Cytopathol. 1999;21:188-193.