What does my mother's cervical cancer staging suggest?

Question

Hello doctor,

My mother was operated on for cervical cancer (Wertheim's hysterectomy). The operation was successful, and she is fine and recovering. After the surgical biopsy, they declared it stage 2 B. Further, we sent her slides to the laboratory for review, and there they found the left parametrium free and the right parametrium with a few tumor cells that are non-reactive.

The report states that the right parametrium shows few tumor cells. However, no reaction is seen against these tumor cells, which is interpreted as a floater. Please tell me.

Can you please throw some light on what the above statement means in the lab report?
What impact does this statement have in relation to the staging of the tumor?

Kindly help.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I went through the reports, and my opinion is as follows:

Diagnosis is that of squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix, moderately differentiated, non-keratinizing type. Your mother has undergone Wertheim's hysterectomy, also called a radical hysterectomy. This is the surgical procedure of removal of the womb along with some of the surrounding structures. Tumor cells, at any location, induce inflammation. They are foreign cells, so some amount of inflammation will be found around the tumor tissue. During the time of taking bits of tissue for histopathology reporting, some tumor sections stay back in the sectioning area. These can attach to other areas and can present as tumor tissue. These are called floaters. Parametrium is the fibrous tissue that separates the cervix from the bladder.

The above-mentioned tissue is found in the right parametrium and hence interpreted as floaters. Also, tissue overlapping can occur during sectioning times.

Here the tumor tissue is attached to the parametrium, thereby being interpreted as parametrium invasion and hence changing the stage of the tumor. Unless tumor cells with surrounding inflammation are present, they would be floaters. Here it is only an overlap. Lymph nodes are not involved. So further treatment will not be necessary.

I hope this information helps you.

Please feel free to contact in case of any further queries.

Thank you.