Diffuse laminar endocervical glandular hyperplasia. A benign lesion often confused with adenoma malignum (minimal deviation adenocarcinoma).

We report seven examples of a hitherto undescribed pseudoneoplastic glandular lesion of the uterine cervix that we have designated "diffuse laminar endocervical glandular hyperplasia." The patients ranged in age from 22 to 48 (mean 37) years. Only one of them had a history of hormone intake. All the lesions were incidental findings in hysterectomy specimens performed for dysfunctional uterine bleeding (five cases) or symptomatic leiomyomas (two cases). Microscopic examination revealed a proliferation of moderate-sized, evenly spaced, differentiated endocervical glands within the inner one-third of the cervical wall, sharply demarcated from the underlying cervical stroma. Reactive atypia was seen in some cases but significant cytologic atypia was absent. A marked inflammatory response was present in five of the seven cases. The main consideration in differential diagnosis was adenoma malignum (minimal deviation adenocarcinoma). Major features that helped in this distinction were a lack of irregular stromal infiltration and a desmoplastic stromal response, and an absence of focal malignant cytologic features. Follow-up for an average of 6.5 years in five of the seven cases was uneventful.