Mesonephric remnants in the cervix

Abstract

I T IX well known that certain portions of the mesonephros may persist near the ovary and in the broad ligament and the vagina of ‘the adult human female. That fetal remnants of mesonephric origin may persist in the uterine cervix is less commonly realized. From time to time reports have appeared in the European literature commenting on the development of tumors arising from mesonephric residues in the cervix. Meyer’w3 has presented factual data establishing the embryonic source of such neoplasms as being from the cervical portion of the mesonephric duct. With the exception of Wolfe’s case reports several years ago,4 the American literature has contained no reference to this unique and unusual problem. It should be a matter of interest shared in common by t,he clinician, the gynecologic histopathologist, and the embryologist. This is particularly true when it is realized that mesonephric remnants in the cervix may cause confusion in the histologic study of surgically excised tissues and that they may give rise to bizarre tumors which can be either benign or malignant. Because of the paucity and the relative inaccessibility of available information on the subject, it has seemed worth while to make this presentation an attempt to portray in definitive fashion the embryology, the histology, and the microscopic pathology of mesonephric remnants in the uterine cervix. In order to accomplish this the literature has been reviewed, serially sectioned tissues have been studied, and sections from 1,192 surgically excised cervices in the gynecologic laboratory at Northwestern Cniversity Medical School (comprising tissues from Passavant Memorial and Wesley Memorial Hospitals) have been examined.