Verrucous carcinoma of the uterine cervix

Three cases of verrucous carcinoma arising at the uterine cervix were presented with regard to their clinical courses, histological and ultrastructural findings, referring specially to the problems of diagnosis and treatment, and the relationship between viral infection and the disease. In order to obtain a correct diagnosis of verrucous carcinoma, not only repeated punch biopsies, but also wide resection of the tumor by incision biopsy are indispensable, aiming at an accordance between clinical and pathological diagnosis. In treating verrucous carcinoma, which is a slowly progressive nonmetastasizing tumor with strong local invasion, surgery should be the primary choice. Radiotherapy including postoperative irradiation is contraindicated for the reason that not only is verrucous carcinoma radioresistant, but also because anaplastic change following radiation often occurs. Even though in our survey using electronmicroscopy, no virus-like particles were observed, there still remains a strong possibility of the participation of some infections in verrucous carcinoma. This is because all of the primary lesions in our cases, like the other reports in the literature, were located at the posterior lip of the portio .