[The dissemination of endocervical squamous carcinoma cell during cone biopsy.] [(author's transl)]

A 33-year-old patient with malignant cells in a cervical smear (Class V) had a cone biopsy of the cervix according to the technique described by Scott; this technique involves infiltration with local vasoconstrictive solution. Histological examination of the cone biopsy specime showed a squamous cell carcinoma of the endocervix and also appearances suggestive of the dissemination of tumour cells (tumor cells in lymphatic vessels and in tissue spaces at some distance from the primary lesion) as result of the surgical procedure. The patient had an extended hysterectomy and bilateral pelvic lymphadenectomy 6 days after cone biopsy. The marginal sinus of six of the 26 lymphnodes examined histologically contained what may have been degenerating tumor cells. The problem of disseminating tumour cells during diagnostic or therapeutic surgical procedures is discussed.