[Clear cell adenocarcinoma of the corpus uteri]

Specimens obtained from 15 patients suffering from a rare form of carcinoma of corpus uteri--a clear cell adenocarcinoma--were studied. The importance of identification of this form of cancer as a specific nosologic unit was shown, since the 5-year survival rate in patients with this lesion (57.2 +/- 16.4%) was lower than that in patients with endometrial adenocarcinoma, involvement in stage I tumor patients and scheme of treatment being identical. The clear cell adenocarcinoma was shown to occur in more elderly patients as compared with adenocarcinoma of the endometrium and its symptoms are not pathognomonic. The occurrence, in some cases, of clear cell adenocarcinoma in the endometrium and co-occurrence of the elements of endometrial and clear cell adenocarcinomas in the same tumor point to the origin of clear cell adenocarcinoma from the elements of Müller's system.