Abstract
Background : Uterine cervical cancer is one of the most common malignancies in pregnancy and 1% of women with cervical cancer are pregnant or postpartum at the time of the diagnosis. We report a case of a patient with progressive cervical cancer who was monitored by pap smear through the duration of pregnancy.
Case : An 32-year-old woman presented with the complaint of vaginal bleeding during pregnancy. She was diagnosed clinically as having threatened abortion and later, as having threatened premature delivery. The cytological diagnosis was LSIL at 10 weeks of gestation and HSIL at 22 weeks of gestation. However, the cytopathological findings revealed invasive squamous cell carcinoma at 29 weeks of pregnancy. A Cesarean delivery was performed, followed by radical hysterectomy.
Conclusion : Cytological diagnosis is difficult in pregnant women, especially because of the high frequency interference by copious mucous discharge and atypical genital bleeding. Therefore, in the event of detection of abnormal cytological findings in pregnant women, a colposcopic examination and punch biopsy should be performed.
