Case Report
Papillary Serous Carcinoma of the Uterine Cervix with
Lung Metastasis
Maliha Khan,
1
Alan D. Gilman,
1
Sobia Nizami,
2
Aram Barbaryan,
1
Alaa M. Ali,
1
and Aibek E. Mirrakhimov
1
1
Department of Internal Medicine, Saint Joseph Hospital, 2900 North Lake Shore, Chicago, IL 60657, USA
2
Department of Medicine, Agha Khan University, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
Correspondence should be addressed to Maliha Khan; doc.maliha@gmail.com
Received 2 January 2014; Accepted 22 January 2014; Published 4 March 2014
Academic Editors: K. Jamil and S. Ohno
Copyright © 2014 Maliha Khan et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Papillary serous carcinoma of the uterine cervix is a rare histological variant of cervical adenocarcinoma, with a very small number
of cases reported. It is an aggressive tumor and is usually diagnosed at advanced stages by the time of diagnosis. Early-stage tumors
can be treated with surgery and/or radiotherapy, while late-stage tumors have been treated with chemotherapy plus radical surgery
with intermittent success. Here we report a case of metastatic papillary serous carcinoma observed at our hospital, which has been
treated with debulking surgery and combination chemotherapy with carboplatin and paclitaxel.
1. Introduction
Cervical adenocarcinoma accounts for 10–20% of inva-
sive cervical cancers and has a poor radiosensitivity and
chemosensitivity [1, 2]. Papillary serous carcinoma of the
uterine cervix (PSCC) is a very rare variant of cervical
adenocarcinoma, which histologically resembles the same
tumor occurring more commonly in the ovary, fallopian tube,
endometrium, and peritoneum [3]. It is recognized as an
aggressive neoplasm that can be pure or mixed with other
adenocarcinoma subtypes [3]. PSCC is staged similarly to
other types of cervical cancer and is presented in Table 1 [4]. It
is usually found with lymph node metastases and occasionally
in Stage III or IV (staging is presented in Table 1)[2]. he
diagnosis of PSCC should be made ater metastasis from
other sites, particularly the endometrium, has been excluded
[5]. here is a paucity of the literature on PSCC with only 46
cases being reported to date [2]. Here we describe a recent
case of primary PSCC with pulmonary metastases diagnosed
at our hospital.
2. Case Presentation
A 64-year-old African American female, gravida (G) 0 with
menopause at age 52, presented with a four-week history of
vaginal bleeding in July 2013. he bleeding occurred daily,
ranging in severity from spotting to moderate bleeding. Her
review of systems was otherwise negative, and she had no
documented past medical history. She reported that her last
Pap smear was performed several years ago and was normal.
he vital signs were unremarkable. On pelvic examination,
cervical ulceration of 2-3 cm with friability was found. he
physical examination was otherwise unremarkable.
Laboratory investigations showed only microcytic ane-
mia with a hemoglobin level of 11.3 g/dL (normal range:
14.0–18.0 gm/dL) and CA-125 of 343 (normal range: 0–
35 U/mL). On transabdominal ultrasound, a small amount
of luid within the endometrial cavity was demonstrated,
with no signiicant endometrial thickening. A cervical biopsy
was performed, which revealed papillary serous carcinoma
with mitotic activity at 4 mitotic igures per 10 high-power
ields and occasional psammoma bodies (please see Figure 1).
he immunostaining was positive for Ki-67 and p53 and
negative for estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR) receptors. A
computed tomography (CT) scan of the abdomen and pelvis
showed a luid-illed and distended uterine endometrial
cavity with free luid in the posterior cul-de-sac (please see
Figure 2). Positron emission tomography (PET) scan revealed
extensive lymphadenopathy throughout the abdomen, pelvis,
and bilateral hilar lung regions, along with multiple difuse
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Case Reports in Oncological Medicine
Volume 2014, Article ID 683103, 4 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/683103