Adenoid cystic carcinoma in the uterine cervix: a case report

Adenoid cystic carcinoma, a variant of adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix, is an extremely rare neoplasm. This report describes a case of primary adenoid cystic carcinoma of the uterine cervix and includes the cytopathologic and histopathologic findings. A 55-year-old woman presented with postmenopausal bleeding for 2 months. Speculum examination showed a firm mass in the uterine cervix. A Pap smear was obtained, which showed small epithelial cells with hyperchromatic nuclei and coarse chromatin dispersed and adhered around hyaline stromal globular material, along with a few atypical squamous cells. The diagnosis of adenoid cystic carcinoma was confirmed by the histopathologic examination of the biopsy specimen as well as the excised specimen, which characteristically revealed the presence of a cribriform pattern of the tumor cells. We reported a case of a rare and unusual variant of adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix by considering the characteristic cytologic features of the globules of pale, translucent material surrounded by halos of cells in cribriform adenoid cystic carcinoma.