Abstract
Background : Papillary squamous cell carcinoma (PSCC) is a rare variant of the cervicovaginal carcinoma, and it is difficult to judge the presence of stromal invasion pre-operatively. We report the liquid based cytology (LBC) findings of a case of vaginal PSCC.
Case : A 69-year-old woman, G3P2, was referred to our hospital with the complained of a bloody vaginal discharge. Pelvic examination revealed a vaginal pednuclated mass. A cervical smear showed some characteristic features ; (1) large atypical cell clusters in a clear background, (2) the atypical cells in the clsters often showed a papillary to whorled arrangement with a fibrovascular core, (3) the atypical cells showed basaloid features with round to oval nuclei containing small nucleoli and thick cytoplasm, (4) the cell borders were not distinct, (5) single cell keratosis or koilocytosis was not observed. Histologically, the resected tumor was diagnosed as PSCC with minimal stromal invasion.
Conclusion : These characteristic cytological findings were more apparent in LBC preparations as compared to conventional cytology smears. LBC seems to be a useful method for detecting cervicovaginal PSCC.
