Gynaecological Pathology Flashcards
(39 cards)
What is pelvic inflammatory disease?
This is an infection ascending from the vagina into the uterus and fallopian tubes.
What are the most common organisms to cause pelvic inflammatory disease?
- Chlamydia trachomatis
- Neisseria gonorrhoea
What are the clinical features of pelvic inflammatory disease?
- Lower abdominal pain
- Dyspareunia
- Vaginal bleeding/discharge
- Adnexal tenderness
What are the complications of pelvic inflammatory disease?
- Fitz-Hugh-Curtis syndrome
- Infertility
- Increased risk of ectopic pregnancy
- Plical fusion
What is endometriosis?
Presence of endometrial tissue outside the uterus
What theories exist for the aetiology of endometriosis?
- Metaplastic transformation of epithelial cells
- Implantation due to retrograde menstrual flow
- Lymphatic/vascular dissemination of cells
What are the clinical features of endometriosis?
- Pelvic pain, dysmenorrhea, deep dyspareunia and reduced fertility
- Cyclical pain and bleeding, depending on the location
What are the macroscopic features of endometriosis?
- Chocolate cysts in ovaries
- Red-blue to brown nodules
What are the abnormalities of the uterus?
- Duplication
- Agenesis
What are the microscopic features of endometriosis?
Endometrial glands and stroma
What is adenomyosis?
The presence of endometrial tissue within the uterine muscle (myometrium).
What is gestational trophoblastic disease?
An uncommon condition involving too much paternal tissue, with the possibility of becoming malignant.
What is a leiomyoma?
This is more commonly known as a fibroid. It is the most common tumour of th female genital tract and is completely benign.
What are the different types of leiomyoma?
They can be intramural, submucosal or subserosal
What is the cause of fibroids?
Largely unknown but it is associated with oestrogen exposure. They regress after menopause.
What are the macroscopic features of a leiomyoma?
A sharply circumscribes, discrete, round and firm tumour, of variable size.
What are the microscopic features of a leiomyoma?
Bundle of smooth muscle cells
What are the clinical features of a leiomyoma?
They can be asymptomatic, according to size
- Heavy menstrual bleeding
- Dysmenorrhea
- Pressure effects
- Subfertility
- Can degenerate in pregnancy, causing haemorrhage
What is a leiomyosarcoma?
A malignant form of leiomyoma - but transition from the benign type to the malignant type is exceptionally rare.
They usually occur in post-menopausal women.
What is main clinical feature of endometrial carcinoma?
Post-menopausal bleeding, 10% of those with PMB will have endometrial carcinoma
How are endometrial carcinomas divided?
Endometrioid (80%)
- Usually lower grade tumours
- Related to oestrogen excess
- K-ras mutations
Non-endometrioid (20%)
- More aggressive and include papillary and serous types
- Unrelated to oestrogen excess
- p53 mutations
What is normal vulval histology?
Squamous epithelium (skin)
What is vulval intraepithelial neoplasia?
Dysplasia of the epithelium of the vulva, graded as I, II and III
- Can progress to malignancy, but has a lower to propensity to do this than CIN
- Associated with HPV 16
What is vulval carcinoma?
This is usually an SCC, sometimes arising from VIN, or from other skin abnormalities (Paget’s disease).