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. 2019 Nov 18;14(1):129.
doi: 10.1186/s13000-019-0909-y.

Uterine lesions with sex cord-like architectures: a systematic review

Meng Jia  1 , Ping-Li Sun  2 , Hongwen Gao  3
Affiliations

Uterine lesions with sex cord-like architectures: a systematic review

Meng Jia et al. Diagn Pathol. .

Abstract

Background: Sex cord-like elements are rarely observed in uterine lesions, but these morphological patterns could appear in a variety of uterine tumors and non-tumorous lesions. In this review, we collected the literatures regarding the uterine tumorous and non-tumorous lesions containing sex cord-like elements and summarized these lesions in terms of clinicopathological, immunohistochemical, and molecular features in order to further understand these lesions and provide some new ideas for differential diagnosis.

Main body: This section provides a comprehensive overview of the clinicopathological, immunohistochemical, and molecular features of uterine lesions with sex cord-like architectures including uterine tumors resembling ovarian sex cord tumors, endometrial stromal tumors, adenomyosis, endometrial polyps, leiomyoma, epithelioid leiomyosarcoma, adenosarcoma, sertoliform endometrioid carcinoma, corded and hyalinized endometrioid carcinoma, mesonephric adenocarcinoma, and mesonephric-like adenocarcinoma. The differential diagnosis based on morphology, immunohistochemistry, and molecular alterations has also been discussed.

Conclusion: The sex cord-like areas in these lesions show heterogeneous but similar morphological features. Additionally, immunohistochemical staining plays a limited role in differential diagnosis. Furthermore, it is of significance for pathologists to better understand these lesions in order to avoid confusion and mistakes during pathological diagnosis, especially in a biopsy/curettage specimen.

Keywords: Endometrial stromal tumor; Immunohistochemistry; Sex cord; UTROSCT; Uterine.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The representative pictures of UTROSCT. (a) intermediate magnification; (b) high magnification; (c, d) UTROSCT with polygonal cells (Hematoxylin-eosin staining, a, c: × 100, b, d: × 200)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Hematoxylin-eosin staining pictures of LGESS, AS and CHEC. (a-b) sex cord-like elements in LGESS; (c-d) sex cord-like elements in AS; (e-f) sex cord-like elements in CHEC (Hematoxylin-eosin staining, a, c, e: × 100, b, d, f: × 200)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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