Vascular Tumours of the Female Genital Tract: A Clinicopathologic Study of 11 Cases
1241-1246
Correspondence
Sainath K. Andola
Professor and HOD, Dept of pathology, MR Medical College,
Gulbarga, Karnataka – 585105 (INDIA)
Phone: 08472-222948; Fax – 08472-225085
E-mail: drskandola@gmail.com
Introduction: Vascular tumours of the female genital tract (FGT) are very rare. The aim of this study was to analyze the distribution of vascular tumours in FGT and to correlate their clinicopathological features.
Materials and Methods:In a retrospective study of ten years, clinical features including imaging studies, gross and microscopic features of eleven cases of benign vascular tumours of FGT were reviewed. The age range in the present study was 22 to 95 yrs. The presenting complaint was abdominal pain/mass, postcoital bleeding, vaginal and vulval mass. The duration of symptoms varied from 3 months to 10 yrs. A diagnosis of vascular tumour was not considered in any of these on clinical grounds.
Results: The vascular tumours occurred most commonly in ovary (five), followed by vulva (three), and one each in cervix, vagina and placenta. Clinical diagnoses ranged from cystadenoma in ovaries to endocervical polyp in cervix, Bartholin’s cyst in vulva and carcinoma in vagina. Histologically all were benign vascular neoplasms, ranging from hemangioma (five), lymphangioma (two), lymphangioma circumscriptum (one) and chorangioma (one). Two recently described very rare vulval soft tissue tumours angiomyofibroblastoma (one) and aggressive angiomyxoma of the vulva (one) were also encountered.
Conclusions: Thus we conclude that benign vascular tumours in the FGT can present with symptoms similar to gynaecological tumours & epithelial malignancies and may lead to unwarranted radical surgery. Pathological examination is necessary in all such cases to exclude the possibility of malignancy. Angiomyofibroblastoma and aggressive angiomyxoma of the vulva are very rare and both shared similar clinical and histopathologic features causing diagnostic problems.