Vaginal carcinoma – an epidemiological analysis of the cases diagnosed at Leipzig City and North Saxony

Background: Primary vaginal carcinoma (VaCa) is a rare disease and the knowledge about their incidence, age distribution and tumor stage is limited.

Methods: The data of the Clinical Tumor Registry at the University Hospital Leipzig between 1994 and 2013 were re-evaluated for the number of cases of VaCa, their age and stage distribution, histologic tumor type and the presence of regional lymph node involvement. The incidence rate and overall survival were calculated.

Results: 90 cases were identified during the study period, representing 4.9 new cases diagnosed each year. The calculated incidence rate for Leipzig City and the countryside of North Saxony was 0.995. All cases represented squamous cell carcinomas with a median age of 70 years (range 23 – 93 years). About 50% represented with FIGO stage I/II. About 59.1% showed no regional lymph node involvement (cN0/pN0), 13.4% were cN1/pN1 and 27.3% NX. The median overall survival was 20.5 months (Range 0 – 191 months), representing a 5-year OSR of 41.3% for all stages and 48.6% for FIGO stage I+II and 23.3% for FIGO stage III+IV.

Comment: VaCa represent a rare carcinoma of the female genital tract. About one half of the cases are diagnosed in advanced stage of the disease. Regardless of treatment modalities, the prognosis is significant better for cases with FIGO stage I and II.