Histopathological findings concerning the morphogenesis of mixed carcinoma of the uterine cervix.

The morphological and functional glandular characteristics of cervical cancers have been studied in terms of the degree of mucous reaction and glandular structure and the morphogenesis of such lesions has been discussed. Among 128 cases of frank invasive carcinoma of the uterine cervix, glandular structure was found in 42 cases (32.8%) and a positive mucous reaction without glandular structure was found in 43 cases (33.6%). Adenocarcinoma was defined as all frank invasive carcinoma with more than 80% glandular structure (R greater than 80%). Lesions with less than 5% glandular structure (R less than or equal to 5%) and a negative mucous reaction were defined as epidermoid carcinoma, and all remaining lesions were defined as mixed carcinoma. Following these definitions, the percentages of adenocarcinoma and mixed and epidermoid carcinomas among the frank invasive carcinoma cases were 10.2 (13 cases), 12.5 (16 cases), and 77.3% (99 cases). The histological structure of the 16 cases of mixed carcinoma included 3 cases of acanthomatous change adenocarcinoma, 4 cases of collision pattern of adenocarcinoma and epidermoid carcinoma, and 9 cases where the lesion is thought to develop by bipotential differentiation together with the neoplastic changes of reserve cells.