Abstract
Background Cervical cytology has continually evolved. Nowadays, the category of atypical glandular cells (AGC) is less frequent than atypical squamous cells (ASC), associating poorlyreproducible inter-observer interpretation. Cellular characters sometimes surpass benign reparatory processes or associate high-grade squamous precursor lesions, glandular neoplasia, including cervical adenocarcinoma, endometrial neoplasm and even extrauterine adenocarcinomas. Therefore, AGC needs special attention and aggressive diagnostic procedures. Nevertheless, the most common viral infection of the reproductive tract, the human-papillomavirus (HPV) infection, shouldn’t be underestimated, as about 30% of AGC cases are HPV-positive. The presence of HPV in AGC patients identifies a group at higher-risk for developing cervical neoplasia. Studies show that 70% of AGCHPV-negative patients have no evidence of cervical cancer, and 76% of AGC-HPV-positive results may present glandular or squamous neoplasia.
Highlights
Studies show that 70% of AGCHPV-negative patients have no evidence of cervical cancer, and 76% of atypical glandular cells (AGC)-HPV-positive results may present glandular or squamous neoplasia
In 12 cases the AGC cytology was associated with squamous lesion: atypical squamous cells (ASC)-US (6 cases), LSIL (1 case), ASC-H (1 case) and HSIL (4 cases)
Most colposcopies (58%) were negative for lesions, some were non-satisfactory (12%), 5 (8.6%) revealed polyps, 12 (20%) had squamous lesions; there was no colposcopic diagnosis of adenocarcinoma
Summary
The category of atypical glandular cells (AGC) is less frequent than atypical squamous cells (ASC), associating poorlyreproducible inter-observer interpretation. Cellular characters sometimes surpass benign reparatory processes or associate high-grade squamous precursor lesions, glandular neoplasia, including cervical adenocarcinoma, endometrial neoplasm and even extrauterine adenocarcinomas. AGC needs special attention and aggressive diagnostic procedures. The most common viral infection of the reproductive tract, the human-papillomavirus (HPV) infection, shouldn’t be underestimated, as about 30% of AGC cases are HPV-positive. The presence of HPV in AGC patients identifies a group at higher-risk for developing cervical neoplasia. Studies show that 70% of AGCHPV-negative patients have no evidence of cervical cancer, and 76% of AGC-HPV-positive results may present glandular or squamous neoplasia
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