Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Review Literature On Uterine Carcinosarcoma
Review Literature On Uterine Carcinosarcoma
42]||ClickheretodownloadfreeAndroidapplicationfor
journal
Review Article
Rajendra Singh
Carcinosarcoma of the uterus is a rare gynaecological neoplasm, which is also known as malignant mixed mesodermal tumor.
Traditionally this tumour has been regarded as a subtype of uterine sarcoma, and its origin remains controversial. The exact nature
and prognosis was not clear in the past. It is believed that uterine carcinosarcoma have a Mullerian duct origin and have a capacity
to differentiate into various mesenchymal and epithelial components. Regarding the histogensis, various theories have been given;
of which conversion theory was broadly accepted. Carcinosarcoma are mostly of monoclonal origin with the carcinomatous
component being the driving force. This type of tumor is broadly divided into two groups, homologous and heterologous, depending
on the characteristics of the stroma or mesenchymal components of endometrial tissue. It is more frequent in black women and
postmenopausal women. Radiation is a possible etiological factor but the exact etiology is not known yet. However, tamoxifen may
induce carcinogenesis in some patients. Its clinical feature is very similar to endometrial carcinoma i.e. postmenopausal vaginal
bleeding, have a very aggressive behavior and a poor prognosis. This pelvic malignancy is treated by multimodality therapy including
surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Here we are reviewing old concepts about the disease and modern understandings of the
origin, classification, pathogenesis and recent advances in the treatment of the uterine carcinosarcoma.
Department of
Radiation Oncology,
Tarini Cancer Hospital
and ResearchInstitute,
Alwar, Rajasthan,
India
For correspodence:
Dr.Rajendra Singh,
C42 AmbedkarNagar,
Alwar 301001,
Rajasthan, India.
Email:drrsingh99@
rediffmail.com
INTRODUCTION
Carcinosarcomas are most bizarre uterine
malignancy in women with diverse origin and
histopathological characteristics. It is also known
as mixed mesodermal tumor.[1] This tumor has
been extensively discussed in literature since the
time of Virchow. The exact nature and existence
has been of much controversy. It has highly
malignant in behavior and generally has a poor
prognosis.[2] It accounts for less than 3% of all uterine
malignancies. This tumor shows preponderance in
postmenopausal women;[3] however, it may occur
in premenopausal women as well.
Epidemiology and risk factors
It usually arises from the uterus but may also
rarely appear in the ovary, fallopian tube, cervix
or peritoneum.[46] Occasionally it may develop
from benign endometrial polyp. [7] The relative
incidence of carcinosarcoma is about 1.5-3% of all
uterine malignancies in various clinical series cases.
Its incidence begins to increase at approximately
50years of age and reached a maximum at the
age of 75years, and thereafter plateaus.[8] The
median age of diagnosis is 6267years.[9] The overall
incidence in black is twice as compared with white,
but with no differences in survival for women, who
received similar therapy.
461
[Downloadedfreefromhttp://www.cancerjournal.netonWednesday,November26,2014,IP:180.246.181.42]||ClickheretodownloadfreeAndroidapplicationfor
journal
Singh: Review of literature on uterine carcinosarcoma
thousand per year for endometrial cancer and only 0.5 per lakh
per year for uterine sarcoma.[19,20] The relationship of developing
uterine sarcoma due to exposure of tamoxifen has been described
in many series but data is limited. However, the period between
the exposure of tamoxifen to the patients and development of
uterine sarcoma is ranged between 1 years to 20years.[21,22] The
endometrial carcinogenesis induced by tamoxifen is assumed to
be due to higher concentration of tamoxifen metabolites in the
endometrium as compared with serum.[23]
Classification
The classification of this uterine carcinosarcoma has
been controversial since Kheres proposed the term mixed
mesodermal tumor 1906. By 1935, Mcforland had collected
119 names representing to attempt designation of the gross
or microscopic features in individual cases.[24] The basic
neoplastic component is mesenchymal sarcoma often called
undifferentiated cellular sarcoma, endometrial sarcoma or
fibrosarcoma. Carcinomatous elements are also frequent, out
of which the most common is endometrial carcinoma.
Zenker in 1864 classified mesenchymal sarcomas in two groups
based on types of cells present in the tissue of neoplasm, one as
pure that contains the single cell type and other as mixed that
contains more than one cell type. He also divided mesenchymal
sarcoma as homologous, those made up of tissue elements
indigenous to the uterus and heterologous, those containing
tissue elements normally foreign to the uterus.
Ober in 1956 proposed an elaborate classification of
mesenchymal sarcoma that is primarily based on Zenker
classification. According to that classification any tumor of
the corpus uteri that contains stromal sarcoma plus one or
more heterologous elements or that contains two or more
heterologous elements should be coded as mixed mesodermal
tumor.[25] The World Health organization(WHO) classified
these uterine neoplasms as carcinosarcomas, an alternative
designation is a malignant mixed Mullerian tumor.
Development
How does the tumor develope from different sites of the
urogenital system? To understand their origin, first let us
consider the embryonic development of the urogenital system.
The primitive paramesonephric(Mullerian) duct developed
from the mesenchyme of the urogenital ridge and the lining of
celomic epithelium. This primitive duct ultimately undergoes
differentiation into the body of the uterus, fallopian tubes,
cervix and the upper part of vagina. This analog gives rise
to all the uterine elements like myometrial smooth muscles,
endometrial stroma and endometrial glands. Hence, the term
mixed Mullerian tumor is applicable to all uterine tumors that
are formed from both mesenchymal and epithelial elements.
All these components are derived from Mullerian duct. These
tumors are more common in uterus as compared to other sites
most probably because the epithelial and mesenchymal cells
at this site share a common embryonic origin.
462
[Downloadedfreefromhttp://www.cancerjournal.netonWednesday,November26,2014,IP:180.246.181.42]||ClickheretodownloadfreeAndroidapplicationfor
journal
Singh: Review of literature on uterine carcinosarcoma
463
[Downloadedfreefromhttp://www.cancerjournal.netonWednesday,November26,2014,IP:180.246.181.42]||ClickheretodownloadfreeAndroidapplicationfor
journal
Singh: Review of literature on uterine carcinosarcoma
Prognosis
Uterine carcinoma has a poor prognosis despite different
treatment modalities used. It is usually worse than the
corresponding set of high grade endometrial carcinoma,
mainly in typeI carcinoma with median survival of 1836months. For women with carcinosarcoma, their prognosis
vary inversely with the initial stage at presentation, which
include tumor size, lymph node metastasis, adenexal spread,
lymphovascular invasion, histological grade, cell type and
depth of myometrial invasion. Other factors also influence the
prognosis of carcinosarcoma patients, like types of surgery,
chemotherapy doses and regimens, adjuvant radiotherapy and
patients characteristics. Gloria etal., studied the serum CA125
levels in patients of carcinosarcoma and has shown that the
preoperative elevation is a marker of extra uterine disease and
deep myometrial invasion.[48] Postoperative CA125 elevation is
an independent prognostic factor for poor survival.
[Downloadedfreefromhttp://www.cancerjournal.netonWednesday,November26,2014,IP:180.246.181.42]||ClickheretodownloadfreeAndroidapplicationfor
journal
Singh: Review of literature on uterine carcinosarcoma
465
[Downloadedfreefromhttp://www.cancerjournal.netonWednesday,November26,2014,IP:180.246.181.42]||ClickheretodownloadfreeAndroidapplicationfort
journal
Singh: Review of literature on uterine carcinosarcoma
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I would like to gratefully thank Dr.Shyam Singh(clinical assistant
in department of radiation oncology, Medcity, Gurgaon, Haryana) for
valuable suggestion during writing of review article.
REFERENCES
1. BrooksSE, ZhanM, CoteT, BaquetCR. Surveillance, epidemiology
and end results analysis of 2677cases of uterine sarcoma 19891999.
Gynecol Oncol 2004;93:2048.
2. SilverbergSG, MajorFJ, BlessingJA, FetterB, AskinFB, LiaoSY, etal.
Carcinosarcoma(malignant mixed mesodermal tumor) of the uterus.
AGynecologic Oncology Group pathologic study of 203cases. Int J
Gynecol Pathol 1990;9:119.
3. OlahKS, DunnJA, GeeH. Leiomyosarcoma have a poorer prognosis
than mixed mesodermal tumours when adjusting for known
prognostic factors the result of a retrospective study of 423cases of
uterine sarcoma. Br J Obstet Gynecol 1992;99:5904.
4. PrendivilleJ, MurphyD, RennisonJ, BuckleyH, CrowtherD.
Carcinosarcoma of the ovary treated over a 10year period at the
Christie hospital. Int J Gynecol Cancer 1994;4:2005.
5. ClementPB, ZubovitsJT, YoungRH, ScullyRE. Malignant mixed
tumours of the uterine cervix: Areport of 9cases of a neoplasm with
morphology often different from its counterpart in the corpus. Int J
Gynecol Pathol 1998;17:21122.
6. GaramvoelgyiE, GuillouL, GethardS, SalmeronM, SeematterRJ,
HadjeeMH, etal. P rimar y malignant mixed Mullerian
tumour(metaplastic carcinoma) of the female peritoneum. Aclinical,
pathological, and immunological study of three cases and a review
of the literature. Cancer 1994;74:85463.
7. ChaudharyYS, IllahiF, MoatasimA. Carcinosarcoma uterine unusual
histologic presentation. Rawal Med J 2009;34:1202.
8. RobboySJ, MutterGL, PratJ, BentleyRC, RusselP, AndersonMC, etal.
Robboys pathology of the female reproductive tract 2ndedn. china:
Churchill Livingstone Elsevier; 2009.p.443.
9. GadduciA, CosioS, RomaniniA, GenazzaniAR. The management of
patients with uterine sarcoma: Adebated critical challenge. Crit Rev
Oncol Hematol 2008;65:12942.
10. MeredithRF, EisertDR, KakaZ, HodgsonSE, Johnston GA Jr,
BoutselisJG. An excess of uterine sarcomas after pelvic irradiation.
Cancer 1986;58:20037.
11. VarelaDuranJ, NichomovitzLE, PremKA, DehenerLP. Postirradiation
mixed mullerian tumours of uterus. Cancer 1980;45:162531.
12. ZelamanowiczA, HildesheimA, HermannME, SturgeonSR,
KurmanRJ, BarettRJ, etal. Evidence for a common aetiology for
endometrial carcinoma and malignant mixed Mullerian tumours.
Gynecol Oncol 1998;69:2537.
13. AmantF, Cadron, Fusol, BretelootP, de JongeE, JacomenG, etal.
Endometrial carcinosarcomas have different prognosis and pattern
of spread compared to high risk epithelial Cancer. Gynecol Oncol
2005;98:27480.
14. WolfsonAH, WolfsonDH, SittlerSY, BretonL, MarkoeAM, SchwadeJG,
etal. Amultivariate analysis of clinicopathologic factors for predicting
outcome in uterine sarcomas. Gynecol Oncol 1994;52:5662.
15. SchwartzSM, WeissNS, DalingJR, GammonMD, LiffJM, WattJ, etal.
Exogenous sex hormones use, correlates of endogenous hormone
levels, and the incidence of histologic types of sarcoma of the uterus.
Cancer 1996;77:71224.
16. YildirimY, InalMM, SanciM, YildrimYK, MitT, PolatM, etal.
Development of uterine sarcoma after tamoxifen treatment for breast
cancer: Areport four cases. Int J Gynecol Cancer 2005;15:123942.
17. ArenasM, RovirosaA, HernandezV, OrdiJ, JarcanoS, MelladoB, etal.
Uterine sarcomas in breast cases patients treated with tamoxifen.
Int J Gynecol Cancer 2006;16:8615.
466
[Downloadedfreefromhttp://www.cancerjournal.netonWednesday,November26,2014,IP:180.246.181.42]||ClickheretodownloadfreeAndroidapplicationfor
journal
Singh: Review of literature on uterine carcinosarcoma
467
[Downloadedfreefromhttp://www.cancerjournal.netonWednesday,November26,2014,IP:180.246.181.42]||ClickheretodownloadfreeAndroidapplicationfor
journal
Singh: Review of literature on uterine carcinosarcoma
468