Primary vaginal squamous cell carcinoma in the young patient

This report, prompted by the recent observation of three cases of primary squamous cell carcinoma in relatively young patients, reviews the English-language literature in search of information on age-related incidence for this tumor in the below-40 age group. From those series providing data, it was found that only 10% of these tumors occur in patients less than 40 years old. No authentic squamous cell vaginal cancer could be found in patients less than 10 years of age, and only five such well-documented cases were found in the age group 11-20. The incidence of this tumor then rises abruptly to 60 patients in the age group 21-30 and to 160 patients in the age group 31-40. The rarity of the tumor, particularly with regard to the anatomical location, is impressive as well as enigmatic.