The lymphatic system of the uterine cervix: towards a more precise definition of the drainage routes.

PURPOSE: Lymph node involvement in cancer of the uterine cervix is a major independent prognostic factor for overall survival. The aim of our study was to examine the lymphatic drainage regions of the different parts of the uterine cervix. METHODS: An anatomical study of fresh cadavers was conducted by injecting patent blue in the anterior or posterior lip of the uterine cervix and dissecting drainage regions. Furthermore, a retrospective radiological and pathological studies were conducted on patients who were treated for early-stage cancer of the uterine cervix with lymph node involvement. Radiological analysis of pre-therapeutic MRIs and/or pathological analysis of surgical specimens showed the precise location of the tumour. A correlation between the anatomy of the primary lesion site and the lymphatic area involved was established. RESULTS: We administered 15 cadaveric injections: 8 in the anterior lip of the uterine cervix and 7 in the posterior one. For 100% of the anterior lip injections, lymphatic drainage was bilateral ileo-obturator (n = 8/8) combined with bilateral parametrial drainage. For the posterior injections, there was never any ileo-obturator drainage, and 6 of the 7 (75%) posterior injections drained in the posterior uterine serosa. Concerning the clinical study, we included 21 patients. We observed a non-significant tendency towards bilateral lymph node involvement when the tumour of the anterior lip. CONCLUSION: Physiological lymphatic drainage of the uterine cervix presents anatomical specificities, depending on the structure studied, anterior or posterior lip of the cervix. Better knowledge of these specificities should allow personalized surgery for each patient.

Hepatic pedicle endometriosis: Case report and review of the literature.

The localization of endometriotic disease in the hepatic pedicle has never been reported to date. We report the first case of a 67-year-old postmenopausal patient having presented an endometriotic lesion in the hepatic pedicle. A surgical biopsy was needed to confirm the diagnosis after a first radiologic biopsy that concluded the presence of a mucinous cystic tumor with low-grade dysplasia. Medical treatment with aromatase inhibitors was carried out because of the inextirpable nature of the lesion. The diagnosis and therapeutic management of this rarely occurring lesion of atypical localization in a postmenopausal patient is presented here. A review of the literature on this localization could have led to a damaging surgical treatment due to the different diagnoses suggested. Management of endometriosis relies on a multidisciplinary approach that each practitioner must know how to broach with patients of all ages.

Discovery of a neuroendocrine tumor of the caecum by mammary metastasis using 18F-DOPA-PET.

Neuroendocrine tumors (NET) develop from the diffuse endocrine system. These are rare tumors that can affect diverse organs. We present here the case of a 42-year-old female patient in whom a NET of the breast was discovered that was likely not of mammary origin. The main challenge was finding the primary tumor using immunohistochemistry and specific medical imaging modalities for NET. The primary tumor was localized at the last ileal loop upstream of the Bauhin valve thanks to the use of 18F-DOPA-PET. Ileocaecal resection by laparoscopy was performed. A WHO grade 2 NET of the ileum measuring 2.2 cm × 1.5 cm was found that infiltrated the submucosa with six metastatic lymph nodes of the eight removed (6N+/8). This unusual clinical case is the first one of a digestive NET of the ileum-caecal junction by mammary metastasis.

[Vaginal adenoid cystic carcinoma: a case report]. / Carcinome adénoïde kystique vaginal: à propos d'un cas.

Adenoid cystic carcinoma generally arises from the salivary glands and is rarely found in the female genital tract. Infection with HPV is implicated in this cervical lesion. Differential diagnosis includes adenoid basal carcinoma, polymorphous low-grade adenocarcinoma and basaloid squamous cell carcinoma. Only one case of vaginal localisation was previously described. We report a case of adenoid cystic carcinoma in a 48-year-old woman with previous cervical HPV infection. Histological examination revealed nests of cells with peripheral palisading organisation and glandular lumina containing material produced by the tumor cells.