[Villous glandular adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix. A subtype with favourable prognosis?].

The frequency of adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix is increasing, and accounts for 10-20% of all cervical carcinomas. Adenocarcinoma usually affects women in their fifties and sixties. Mortality is high, with a five-year survival between 49 and 65%. Important prognostic factors are tumour grade, tumour diameter and clinical stage. The prognostic value of histologic subtyping is still under debate. Villoglandular (papillary) adenocarcinoma is a recently described form of well-differentiated adenocarcinoma in the cervix. This lesion apparently affects young women and carries an excellent prognosis. We describe five patients with villoglandular adenocarcinoma in the cervix, clinical stage IB and IIA. Mean age was 34.2 years and mean depth of cervical infiltration was 1.25 cm. Four patients were treated with radical hysterectomy and bilateral pelvic lymphadenectomy and one with simple hysterectomy. All five received postoperative chemotherapy. There is no evidence of recurrent tumour after a follow-up of 18 to 28 months. Cervical conization or simple hysterectomy is probably adequate treatment for this subtype of adenocarcinoma.