Villoglandular adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix

PURPOSE: the villoglandular adenocarcinoma (VGA) of the cervix has been identified as a variant of cervical adenocarcinoma that occurs in young women, which has an excellent prognosis. Considering the scarcity of studies related to the subject, we report six cases of VGA of the cervix. METHODS: we followed the development of six cases of VGA in the period from 1995 to 2006 at Hospital Sao Lucas of Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUC-RS). We collected clinical and histologic information of the patients and submitted all the surgical specimens to histological review. RESULTS: mean age at diagnosis was 43.5 years (range 27-61 years). Four patients were submitted to Wertheim-Meigs radical hysterectomy and bilateral pelvic lymphadenectomy, one to conization and subsequent radiotherapy and one to pelvic lymphadenectomy followed by radiotherapy. All the patients were alive and well at the time of this writing, without evidence of recurrence. CONCLUSIONS: the implications of therapy are discussed. We propose here the inclusion of the study of the pattern of lymphovascular involvement in determining the diagnosis of VGA. Thus, in referring to this diagnosis, we will be able to opt, with caution, for conservative therapy, except for particularities of each case.