General Considerations
The vulvar skin is one component of the anogenital epithelium, extending from the distal vagina to the perineum and perianal skin. The lower genital tract epithelium is of common…

General Considerations
Paget’s disease of the skin is an intraepithelial neoplasia, or adenocarcinoma in situ, and accounts for less than 1% of all vulvar malignancies. Reports of long-term survivals suggest that the in…

The principal prognostic factors in cancer of the vulva are the presence or absence of regional lymph node metastases, size and location of the lesion, and the histologic type.

A 5-year survival rate of…

Operative Morbidity & Mortality

The most frequently encountered complication is wound breakdown, which occurs in well over 50% of patients undergoing radical vulvectomy and bilateral inguinal dissection. This complication is related…

Melanoma is the most frequent nonsquamous cell malignancy of the vulva and comprises approximately 5% of primary carcinomas of the vulva. Approximately 400 cases of melanoma of the vulva have been reported, with…

Large tumors of the vulva encroaching on the anorectal area and the urethra require more extensive treatment than a radical vulvectomy. In addition to a radical vulvectomy, it is…

VULVAR ATYPIAS 
There has been a lack of uniformity in defining vulvar atypias. There are minimal data to support vulvar dystrophies being a cause of cancer. The International…

Verrucous carcinoma of the vulva is a variant of epidermoid carcinoma. Clinically, it appears as large, condylomatous lesions. They are locally aggressive, nonmetastatic, fungating tumors that gradually increase in size, pushing into…

Primary carcinoma of Bartholin’s gland accounts for 5% of all vulvar cancers, and over 200 cases have been reported. Only approximately 50% of those tumors are nonepidermoid in nature. Bartholin gland carcinomas can be…

INVASIVE VULVAR CARCINOMAS
  The International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) has defined four clinical stages of vulvar carcinoma. In addition, many centers use the tumor, node, metastasis (TNM) classification. In 1988,…

Paget’s disease is a rare intraepithelial disorder of the vulvar skin that is seen in postmenopausal women. Unlike VIN, the intraepithelial neoplastic cells are glandular rather than squamous. The lesion primarily occurs in whites of…

Vulvar cancer accounts for about 4% of cancers in the female reproductive organs and 0.6% of all cancers in women. The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2005, about 3,870 cancers of the…