Mixed squamous-cell and adenocarcinoma of the cervix.Combined, adenosquamous, and mucoepidermoid types

DICTUM THAT SQUAMOUS-I cell carcinoma of the cervix arises from the stratified squamous epithelium of that organ, and that adenocarcinoma originates with the glandular epithelium.These concepts are in keeping with the time-honored rule that tumors reproduce more or less closely the tissues from which they are generated, and that adult tissues, as distinguished from embryonal tissues, give origin to new tissues of the same or only slightly modified type.There is ample reason to believe, however, that there are cells or tissues in the cervix that may generate both squamous-and gland-cell growth, and at times the growth is a combined type, viz., erosion-healing epithelium (Fig. 1).When we reviewed our experience with cervical adenocarcinomas we found the expected mucinous adenocarcinomas and a variety of related forms.11But we also found a group of growths that represented combinations of both malignant-squamous and malignant-glandular epithelia in at least 3 different relationships.THE STUDY Records of patients having adenocarcinoma of the cervix were reviewed and summarized at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, La., from 1937 through 1963, and from the Baton Rouge Pelvic Tumor Registry from 1951