Postoperative spindle cell nodules of genitourinary tract resembling sarcomas. A report of eight cases

Abstract

Eight cases of proliferative spindle cell nodules that developed 5 weeks to 3 months after operations on the lower genital tract of four women, and the lower urinary tract of four men, are described. The lesions ranged up to 4 cm in diameter, resembled spindle cell sarcomas on microscopical examination, and were initially interpreted as such in most of the cases. Six of the lesions were treated by local excision alone, and two by a radical surgical procedure, followed by radiation therapy in one case. The six patients whose lesions were treated inadequately on the assumption that they were sarcomas were free of disease 9-60 months (average, 28 months) postoperatively, and the two men who were treated by radical procedures were well 18 and 60 months later. The microscopic features, the unusual clinical setting, and the favorable prognosis of these lesions suggest that they were examples of a hitherto undescribed form of benign reactive lesion resembling a sarcoma.