1999 Volume 38 Issue 6 Pages 522-527
Objective: We investigated the cytological diagnosis of uterine sarcoma.
Study design: We reviewed the cytological findings of endometrial aspiration smears obtained presurgically from 18 cases with uterine sarcomas (6 cases with leiomyosarcoma, 1 case with endometrial stromal sarcoma, and 11 cases with carcinosarcoma) from 1971 to 1997.
Results: Malignant tumor cells were detected in 2 out of 7 cases (29%) with “pure” sarcoma, while in 10 out of 11 cases (91%), malignant cells were detected in presurgical endometrial smears.
The detection rate of sarcoma cells in homologous carcinosarcom was 80.0%(4/5), and that in heterologous carcinosarcom was 83.3%(5/6) in presurgical endometrial smears.
Conclusion: Although it is hard to make diagnosis of sarcoma by endometrial smears in pure sarcoma, malignant tumor cells were detected presurgically in most carcinosarcomas. There was only a narrow margin between the detection rate of sarcoma cells in homologous carcinosarcoma and that in heterologous carcinosarcoma in presurgical endometrial smears. Histlogical subtypes of sarcoma components were not discriminated by endometrial smears from cases with heterologous sarcoma components.
