Adenosquamous carcinoma of the uterine cervix is defined as a tumor that contains a mixture of malignant cells with squamous and glandular differentiation. The literature points to the importance of making this diagnosis when the cellular components are still well differentiated in the sample, otherwise the tumor may be erroneously interpreted as squamous carcinoma or adenocarcinoma. This study describes an unusual presentation of a adenosquamous carcinoma in a 47 year old patient. After conflicting cytological diagnoses and a history of abnormal uterine bleeding caused by cervical endometriosis, the patient was subjected to radical hysterectomy and a final diagnosis was obtained. The tumor was diagnosed as adenosquamous carcinoma. In many aspects, however, it was similar to the adenoid basal carcinoma. Characteristic features of the adenoid basal carcinoma such as the presence of high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion in the surface epithelium, squamous and glandular differentiation in the center of the neoplastic mass, and basaloid cells in deep areas of the tumor were observed. Therefore, the following elements usually absent from adenoid basal carcinoma were present in this case: atypia and mitotic figures in undifferentiated cells, squamous-mucinous intraepithelial lesion (SMILE) in the superficial areas. Epidemiological and clinical data, such as patient age (47), race (white) and presentation (a cervical mass), concurred to exclude the diagnosis of adenoid basal carcinoma. Other differential diagnoses include pure squamous carcinoma or adenocarcinoma, collision tumor, and endometrial adenocarcinoma with squamous differentiation invading the uterine cervix.
Adenosquamous carcinoma; Adenoid basal carcinoma; High-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion; Histological variants of cervical adenocarcinoma
