Morphological Effects of Radiochemotherapy on Cervical Carcinoma

The introduction of radiochemotherapy for treatment of advanced cervical cancers represents a new chapter in surgical pathology. The study group included 50 women with a histological diagnosis of advanced cervical carcinoma (43 squamous, 3 adenosquamous, 2 adenocarcinoma, 1 glassy cell, and 1 undifferentiated; International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage Ib-III) receiving a platinum-based chemotherapy concomitant with external beam radiotherapy before radical surgery. We evaluated the amount of residual neoplastic tissue, depth of invasion, presence of neoplastic embolism, number of metastatic lymph nodes, and alterations of the nonneoplastic stroma and epithelium. We observed neoplastic masses larger than 0.3 cm (no pathological response, pR2) in 14 cases (28%), single or multiple microscopic neoplastic residual (partial pathological response, pR1) in 24 cases (48%), and no invasive neoplastic cells (complete pathological response, pR0) in 12 cases (24%). Residual neoplastic cells showed a wide pattern of alterations such as cytoplasmic eosinophilia, vacuolation, and foamy appearance; the nuclei were enlarged and irregular with clumped chromatin. The mitotic activity was scanty. In some cases, multinucleated neoplastic giant cell coexisted with reactive foreign body-like giant cells. The stroma was fibrous containing inflammatory cells, fibrinous debris, cholesterol clefts, hemosiderin pigments, and microcalcifications. In just 2 cases, we found lymph node metastases. The pathologist has to distinguish neoplastic residuals from reactive changes. In most cases, morphological criteria are sufficient to make a diagnosis, but sometimes, the use of immunohistochemistry (keratins and CD68) is a mandatory method to reveal the nature of the lesion.