A case of lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma in the uterine cervix

Abstract

We report the typical cytological features in a case of lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (LELC), rare among uterinecervical malignant neoplasms. A 61-year-old woman seen for irregular genital bleeding was found in 2 cytological examinations tohave neoplastic cells with high N/C ratio and conspicuous nucleoli as a cluster or a single cell, with numerous normal squamous epithelia in the background. Cytology also showed lymphocytic infiltration into the neoplastic cell cluster. The cytological diagnosis was carcinoma in situ because this lesion lacked a neoplastic background, but the definitive pathologic diagnosis from the conization specimen was relatively early-stage LELC. This case suggests the need to consider the possibility of LELC when observing lymphocytic infiltration into a cluster of undifferentiated neoplastic cells having prominent nucleoli.