Generalized lymph node metastasis of early uterine cancer in an HTLV-I carrier

Generalized lymphadenopathy due to metastases of keratinizing squamous cell carcinoma developed in a 68-year-old woman who was a carrier of human T-cell leukemia Type I (HTLV-I). On her 74th hospital day, she died of massive metastases of the superficial and deep-seated lymph nodes, thyroid, lungs, pleura, liver, spleen, pancreas, kidneys, and retroperitoneum. At autopsy, the primary tumor was found in the uterine cervix. The depth of stromal invasion was approximately 4.0 mm. Such an extensive dissemination usually does not occur in cervical cancer with this type of early stromal invasion. It is conceivable that the chronic HTLV-I infection compromised the immunosurveillance against cancer and accelerated progression of the disease in this patient.