Carcinoma of the vagina following cervical cancer

Abstract

Vaginal carcinomas at Magee-Womens Hospital were reviewed for a 25-year period: 51 were cases of invasive carcinoma and 23 were of carcinoma in situ. Invasive vaginal carcinoma accounted for 2.1% of all female genital tract neoplasms. Of the 23 cases of in situ carcinoma of the vagina, 16 (70%) were synchronous with or subsequent to cervical cancer; of the 51 with invasive vaginal carcinoma, 14 (27%) had concurrent or antecedent cervical cancer. This strikingly high frequent association of vaginal cancer with cervical neoplasia emphasized the multicentric occurrence of carcinoma in the lower female genital tract. The importance of lifelong periodic clinical and cytologic examinations of all patients with or without a history of previous cervical neoplasia is stressed for the detection of early vaginal lesions.