Characteristics of Pelvic Cytology in Patients with Gynecologic Malignancies: Comparison of Pre and Post-Neoadjuvant Specimens

Abstract

Introduction: The presence of tumor cells in pelvic cytology (PC) specimens can portend a worse outcome for patients undergoing gynecologic surgery. Primary debulking surgery (PDS) was a mainstay for most of these tumors; however, recent advances have triaged selected patients to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) with interval debulking surgery (IDS). Reduction in tumor cellularity and histologic alterations has been noted in these cases; however, similar cytologic characterization has not been performed. Materials and Methods: PC was searched to find those in NACT patients. Additional PDS were included as controls. Cases were scored for cellularity of malignant cells and background components were described, and when available, pretreatment and posttreatment specimens from the same patients were compared. Results: In all, 19 specimens from 16 patients were found, 6 (32%) of which were paired PTS and IDS from the same patient. Only 6/19 (32%) were from IDS, the remainder PTS. A majority (15/19; 79%) of specimens were malignant; all negative cases were PTS. Few (4/16; 24%) were endometrial primaries; the remainder were pelvic high-grade serous carcinoma. No difference in tumor cell morphology or inflammatory component was noted between the 2 groups, though in 3/3 paired specimens from PDS and IDS, the cellularity of malignant cells decreased in the IDS specimens. Discussion/Conclusion: No identifiable trend was noted regarding cellularity of specimens in the pre compared to the post-neoadjuvant setting. A trend toward reduced cellularity was noted in individual patients, but no alteration in background cells or tumor morphology was noted.