[Clinical and pathomorphologic studies of the precancerous significance and prognostic assessment of epithelial changes in the vulva].

For an observation period of 19 years the authors compiled the relevant clinical and pathomorphological data of patients of the Department of Gynaecology of the University of Cologne to assess the epithelial alterations in the vulva. Particular attention was given to the simultaneous or earlier presence of other genital carcinomas and of genital precancerous growths, especially to the high coincidence rate of malignant and premalignant lesions of the cervix uteri. Metric measurements were performed on histological section preparations to determine the extent and dimensions of microinvasions, i.e. of microcarcinomas. Histological examination of the epithelial alterations adjacent to invasive vulvar carcinomas revealed a carcinoma in situ in only 35% of the cases, in contrast to the situation at the cervix uteri. No definite answer can as yet be given to the question of the concrete risk of malignant degeneration of the carcinoma in situ of the vulva.