IMR Press / EJGO / Volume 23 / Issue 1 / pii/2002107

European Journal of Gynaecological Oncology (EJGO) is published by IMR Press from Volume 40 Issue 1 (2019). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with S.O.G.

Original Research

Extramammary Paget’s disease found by abnormal vulvar brush sampling

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1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Taipei Veterans General Ho.1pital, National Yang-Ming University, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei (Taiwan)
2 Department of Pathology, Taipei Veterans General Ho.1pital, National Yang-Ming University, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei (Taiwan)
Eur. J. Gynaecol. Oncol. 2002, 23(1), 35–36;
Published: 10 February 2002
Abstract

Introduction: Doctors are usually reluctant to perform a vulvar biopsy on a patient with non-specific chronic vulvitis - especially because of the rarity of vulvar malignancy in young women - until the lesion is suspected of being malignant. Therefore, most cases of extramammary Paget's disease (EMPD) were originally misdiagnosed as chronic and recurrent vulvar lesions. Late diagnosis of invasive lesions occurring in elderly females have resulted in cases of death. Case: A 37-year-old patient showed an extended lesion on the vulva and perineum. In addition, abnormal cells were found from a vulvar scrape smear, and a following punch biopsy was used to diagnose and determine the extension of the disease. Conclusion: Diagnosis and demarcation of EMPD remain difficult due to the multi focal lesions and subtle nature of the disease. Brush sampling taken from suspicious areas can be a guide for multiple biopsies to demarcate the lesion before major surgery. A brush biopsy is presented as a first-step method to detect vulvar malignancy.

Keywords
Extramammary Paget’s disease
Tissue sampling
Cancer screening
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