Paget's disease of the vulva: prevalence of associated vulvar adenocarcinoma, invasive Paget's disease, and recurrence after surgical excision.

OBJECTIVE

Our aim was to determine the prevalence of associated vulvar adenocarcinoma, invasive Paget's disease, and recurrence of Paget's disease of the vulva.

STUDY

DESIGN

A retrospective review of tumor and pathology registries at 8 institutions is presented. Patients with recurrent disease were excluded. Histologic slide review was performed.

RESULTS

The median age of the 100 patients was 70 years. The median duration of pruritus before surgery was 2 years. Thirty-four percent of patients experienced a recurrence at a median of 3 years. There was a 12% prevalence of invasive vulvar Paget's disease and a 4% prevalence of associated vulvar adenocarcinoma. One patient died of Paget's disease with associated vulvar adenocarcinoma.

CONCLUSIONS

Paget's disease of the vulva is rarely associated with an underlying vulvar adenocarcinoma or invasive Paget's disease, but there is a high recurrence rate.