Vaginal sarcoma is a malignant oncological neoplasm that occurs on the basis of the connective tissues of the vaginal tube. The development of the tumor is very rapid, so the sarcoma is rapidly increasing in size, metastases are observed in remote areas and strong blood discharge from the genitals.
The content of the article:
Symptoms of vaginal sarcoma
Diagnosis of vaginal sarcoma
Prognosis for vaginal sarcoma
Treatment of vaginal sarcoma
Vaginal sarcoma
Specialists in the field of oncology consider this disease to be a rare type of tumor. Sarcoma often develops in young girls under the age of five and in women going through the menopausal period. Depending on the age of the patient, sarcoma can be of several types:
Girls suffer from fetal vaginal rhabdomyosarcoma.
Women are diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma, angiosarcoma, melanosarcoma, fibromarcoma.
The histological structure of the tumor allows us to distinguish the following types of vaginal sarcoma:
fusiform cell;
round cell;
polymorphic-cellular.
The course of sarcoma in girls is characterized by its malignancy. Usually, the tumor develops in the form of polyps or a cluster-like formation, they can fester and cause ulcers. There is a violation of the urethra, bladder, rectum. In women, vaginal sarcoma looks like a limited node and very quickly metastases into the lymph nodes of the pelvic and inguinal regions, into the lungs and spine.
Symptoms of vaginal sarcoma
A tumor of this type develops very quickly, so the symptoms manifest themselves at the stage of invasion, the formation of ulcers and the disintegration of the tumor body into separate parts. The first signs indicating the presence of problems in the female genital organs are purulent discharge with bloody impurities. In some patients, the tumor began to bleed, so very often when diagnosing sarcoma, an erroneous diagnosis was made — vaginitis, which led to incorrect treatment.
For the further development of vaginal sarcoma, severe pain in the lower abdomen is characteristic, and after a while the patients themselves begin to feel the presence of a foreign formation in the vaginal cavity. When the sarcoma reaches a large size, the groin glands increase, the functionality of the intestinal and urinary tract deteriorates, fecal and urinary incontinence occurs. The development of the tumor process leads to a decline in strength, apathy, a decrease in appetite and a sharp weight loss.
Diagnosis of vaginal sarcoma
It is quite difficult to diagnose vaginal sarcoma, since the outer tissue layer of the oncological formation is covered with healthy epithelium. To prevent the degeneration of sarcoma into a malignant tumor, it is necessary to conduct a tissue biopsy at the early stages of its development. Some experts claim that the positive indicators of histological tests make it possible to exclude the diagnosis of sarcoma, especially if the tumor has a polypoid shape.
Sometimes the formation of sarcoma can be noticed at the initial gynecological examination: a small bleeding node appears on the front or back wall of the vagina. In girls, a polypoid tumor manifests itself through the hymen and resembles a bunch of grapes. To conduct a full gynecological examination, surgical defloration may be prescribed for little girls.
To clarify the diagnosis, colposcopy, biopsy and histological analysis of sarcoma tissue are resorted to.
The difficulty in diagnosing also lies in differentiating sarcomas from diseases with a similar structure and symptoms: vaginal cancer, papilloma, endometriosis, injury to the vaginal wall. When diagnosing the disease, patients are examined by a urologist, proctologist, pulmonologist. When determining the method of treatment, additional tests and studies are often prescribed: cystoscopy, urography, lung radiography, ultrasound examination of the pelvic organs.
Prognosis for vaginal sarcoma
Early diagnosis of the disease allows you to give favorable forecasts. However, sarcoma is most often detected in the late stages, when therapy needs radical methods. Unfortunately, due to untimely treatment, a complete cure of vaginal sarcoma is observed in only five percent of patients. The main thing that can be done for prevention is timely diagnosis of education.
Treatment of vaginal sarcoma
Many experts believe that polyps must be removed, but practice shows that this is not enough, since most patients have a recurrence of vaginal sarcoma, although metastasis has not been observed for some time. Unfortunately, earlier elimination of polyps sometimes contributes to a favorable outcome of treatment.
Other scientists believe that local intervention is not enough to destroy cancer cells and suggest using radiation therapy. In the later stages of development, this method of treatment is of a short-term nature. The use of radiation therapy is recommended to be used as an auxiliary method for radical measures of treatment of vaginal sarcoma.
