Inadvertent tumor morcellation during surgery has an adverse impact on the outcomes of patients with early LGESS.

Cervical cancer is an important cause of cancer-related deaths in women in developing countries. In Korea, cervical cancer is the third leading cancer among females and is fifth highest in mortality. The persistent oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) infections are the greatest risk of developing cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and invasive cancer. The overall prevalence of HPV was 10.4% in Korea and strong risk factors for HPV infection included a young age at sexual debut. The National Cancer Screening Program, which includes cervical cancer screening, has the following principles: the main screening tool is the Papanicolaou test conducted by gynecologists, which targets all women age 30 and over, and which is done every 2 years. HPV DNA tests have not yet been permitted as a screening test for cervical cancer in Korea; however, these are conducted along with a Pap test for screening cervical cancer in the clinic. The use of prophylactic HPV vaccine has been accepted in Korea; The Korean Society of Gynecologic Oncology and Colposcopy's recommendation for routine vaccination is for females aged 15-17 years with a catch-up vaccination recommended for females aged 18-26 years who have not been previously vaccinated. However, many people in Korea are not familiar with the HPV vaccine. Therefore, it is necessary to improve awareness for the disease and HPV vaccination and to establish the effective strategies to obtain funding for HPV vaccination. In the future, cervical cancer is expected to disappear throughout the world, including the Asia Pacific region, through a combination of vaccination and qualified screening programs for cervical cancer.

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Objective:To compare the efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy with paclitaxel plus platinum followed by radical hysterectomy with radical surgery alone in patients with stage IB2-IIA bulky cervical cancer. Methods: From November 1999 to September 2007, stage IB2-IIA cervical cancers with tumor diameter ＞4 cm, as measured by MRI, were managed with two cycles of preoperative paclitaxel and platinum. As a control group, we selected 35 patients treated with radical surgery alone. Results: There were no significant between group differences in age, tumor size, FIGO stage, level of SCC Ag, histopathologic type and grade. Operating time, estimated blood loss, the number of lymph nodes yielded and the rate of complications were similar in the two groups. In surgical specimens, lymph-vascular space invasion (LVSI), nodal metastasis and parametrial involvement did not differ significantly between the two groups. In the neoadjuvant group, pathologic tumor size was significantly smaller and fewer patients had deep cervical invasion. Radiotherapy, alone and in the form of concurrent chemoradiation, was administered to more patients treated with radical surgery alone (82.9% vs. 52.9%, p=0.006). No recurrence was observed in patients who could avoid adjuvant radiotherapy owing to improved risk factors after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. There were no significant differences in 5-year disease free and overall survival. Conclusion: As neoadjuvant chemotherapy would improve pathologic prognostic factors, adjuvant radiotherapy can be avoided, without worsening the prognosis, in patients with locally advanced bulky cervical cancer. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy would be improving the quality of life after radical hysterectomy in patients with bulky cervical cancer.

Neoplasm of the vulva is a rare malignancy accounting for <5% of all female genital-tract cancer. However, in recent years the incidence of vulva intraepithelial neoplasia, known to serve as a precursor to carcinoma, has increased in young women generating considerable interest in its pathogenesis. Genetic changes at the molecular level in precursor or invasive vulvar tumors are not well investigated, and DNA copy number changes have not been reported until now. We used comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) to analyze genetic alterations in 10 primary invasive squamous cell carcinomas of the vulva. Chromosomal aberrations were identified in 8/10 cases. The most frequent chromosomal losses were 4p13-pter (five cases), 3p (four cases), and 5q (two cases), and less frequent losses were detected at 6q, 11q, and 13q (one case each). The most frequent chromosomal gains were 3q (four cases) and 8p (three cases), and less frequent gains were found in 9p, 14, 17, and 20q (one case each). The pattern of chromosomal imbalance in vulvar cancer detected by CGH was revealed to be very similar to that in cervical cancers, despite regional differences in their prevalence. These results suggest that the pathogenic pathways in vulvar and cervical carcinomas may be similar and that the genetic background may be common to these two squamous cell carcinomas.

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