Vaginal cancer pathophysiology
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
On gross pathology, an ulcerating or fungating mass, or an annular constricting lesion is characteristic finding of vaginal cancer.
Pathophysiology
- Vaginal cancer is a rare type of cancer that affects women.
- The vagina is a tube-like organ that connects the cervix (the lower part of the uterus) to the vulva (the outside female genitals).
- The vagina is lined by a layer of flat cells called squamous cells.
- This layer of cells is also called epithelium because it is formed by epithelial cells.
- At birth, a baby passes through the vagina as he or she is born, so the vagina is sometimes also known as the birth canal.
- Women who have the human papillomavirus (HPV) are more likely than other women to develop this rare cancer.
- Women who have been infected with herpes simplex virus are also at higher risk for vaginal cancer.
- If a woman’s mother took a medicine called diethylstilbestrol (DES) when she was pregnant between 1940 and 1971.
- Women whose mothers took DES – known as DES daughters – develop clear-cell adenocarcinoma of the :*vagina or cervix more often than women in the general population.
- Lesions characteristically arise from the posterior wall of the upper third of the vagina. The common patterns of disease are:
- An ulcerating or fungating mass or
- An annular constricting lesion
- Vaginal squamous cell carcinoma arises from the thin, flat squamous cells that line the vagina.
- Vaginal adenocarcinoma arises from the glandular (secretory) cells in the lining of the vagina that produce some vaginal fluids.