Vaginal Cancer

00:01 Under female reproductive pathology, let us now take a look at vaginal disorders.

00:06 Our first topic here will be vaginal tumor.

00:10 If you take a look at the histologic picture here, you can notice that you find keratin pearls.

00:18 As soon as you hear about keratin pearls or see keratin pearls, you can’t see the intracellular bridges but they’re called prickles in pathology.

00:27 The point is we’re talking about squamous cell cancer.

00:31 It is uncommon.

00:34 The greatest risk factor here will be that of which we’ve seen with cervical and with vulvar referring to HPV high-risk strain.

00:44 This will give rise to a squamous cell cancer of your vagina.

00:48 Rare, but know it.

00:51 Here, we’ll take a look at a vaginal tumor is of the adenocarcinoma type.

00:55 That in itself is rather bizarre.

00:57 The reason I say that is if you remember correctly that the pH within the vagina is decreased And the reason for that is because of the lactobacillus.

01:06 Therefore, creating or sustaining a squamous type of environment.

01:12 The fact that you find a glandular type of cancer within the vagina is rare.

01:17 And secondly, high on your differential.

01:20 And historically, you should be thinking about a mother who had taken diethylstilbestrol in which her daughter starts developing an adenocarcinoma of the vagina at the tender age of 15 to 20.

01:32 This is a really young lady who ends up developing adenocarcinoma of the vagina, composed of vacuolated and glycogen containing cells, which then describes to you a glandular cell.

01:50 Another important vaginal tumor with this condition is found in girls less than five years of age.

01:59 If you were to take a look at the vaginal orifice in this young five-year-old girl, it literally looks like grape-like clusters.

02:07 We have, technically, an embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma in which the marker for this would be desmin If you remember correctly, a rhabdomyosarcoma will be a skeletal muscle malignancy commonly found in young girls.

02:27 Sarcoma botryoides, it is an embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma.

02:33 Description of this, “bunch of grapes or cluster of grapes” upon gross examination.