Necrotizing vasculitis in gynecological surgery

Extensive clinical investigation of asymptomatic vasculitis found in routine histopathological studies following gynecological surgery may often be unnecessary. In 11 patients necrotizing angiitis was an incidental finding in surgically removed uterine and uterine adnexal tissues. Following irradiation for urinary bladder carcinoma, one patient died during radical surgery: vasculitis was found in surgically resected pelvic organs, colon and kidneys. In other patients, vasculitis may have been attributable to drugs, e.g. penicillin, or to local arthus-like reaction following cone biopsy of cervix. Available from 6 of these cases, follow-up data presented no evidence of progressive systemic vascular disease, supporting the view that incidentally encountered necrotizing angiitis of uterus and uterine adnexa, like that of the appendix, may be innocuous.