Abstract
Background : While the incidence of uterine cervical glandular lesions has increased recently, early detection is more difficult than that of squamous intraepithelial lesions (SIL) because of problems associated with both sampling and interpretation.
Case : A 31-year-old woman underwent surgery because atypical glandular cells (AGC) were found during follow-up of SIL, and was diagnosed as having invasive cervical adenocarcinoma with carcinoma in situ, based on operative findings. Cytologically, the characteristic features were the presence of cellular clusters with findings suggestive of both SIL and AGC. Moreover, histopathologically, we observed atypical cells having the properties of both squamous and glandular cells in the regions of glandular involvement. In addition, we found the cervical adenocarcinoma to be in the deeper parts of the lesions alone and that the MIB1 proliferation index was high. We concluded that these were the factors that made early detection of cervical adenocarcinoma difficult.
Conclusion : During follow-up of SIL, it is important to recognize the presence of cellular clusters showing the features of both SIL and AGC and not to miss glandular lesions.
