Alveolar soft part sarcoma of the vagina. A case report

We present a case of alveolar soft part sarcoma of the vagina in an 18-year-old woman. The presenting symptoms were menometrorrhagia and a painless vaginal mass. The tumor was in the vaginal stroma with intact mucosa. Periodic acid-Schiff stain showed positive diastase-resistant crystals in some of the tumor cells. Electron microscopy demonstrated characteristic intracytoplasmic crystals. Formaldehyde-induced fluorescence stain showed no catecholamines, and Grimelius stain showed no argyrophilic granules. Black pigment was found within some tumor cells; it proved to be melanin pigment by Masson-Fontana stain. The tumor mass recurred four months after local excision. Following the second surgical removal, the patient received adjuvant radiotherapy to the whole pelvis, including the vagina. At this writing she was currently alive, without evidence of recurrence, five years after the primary diagnosis.