Blue Nevus of the Endometrium

Abstract

A 36-year-old woman with a long history of amenorrhea underwent endometrial curettage. An aggregate of short spindle cells containing a finely granular, dark brown pigment with the histochemical characteristics of melanin was detected in the endometrial stroma. This finding is considered analogous to the occurrence of similar cells in the endocervical stroma and is most appropriately designated a "blue nevus" of the endometrium. The occurrence of nonneoplastic, melanin-laden cells in the endometrial stroma is an extremely rare phenomenon, which has been reported only once previously.

Incidental detection of pigmented lesions in the cervix

“…1,3 Very few cases of pigmented lesions in the cervix have been described including blue nevus of endocervix, malignant melanoma and melanosis of the cervix. 1,2,4,5 A similar phenomenon has also been reported in the endometrial stroma without associated cervical melanosis, 6 thus indicating a common histogenetical link for the presence of these pigmented cells in the uterus. Melanosis of the cervix shows the presence of melanin pigment in the basal epithelium only, not in the stroma.…”

Endometrioid adenocarcinoma concurrent with a blue nevus of the endometrium and uterine cervix: A case report

“…Melanocytes are usually not present in the normal endometrium and uterine cervix (6). Babes (4) reported the first documented case of melanocytes in the non-neoplastic endometrial stroma within an endometrial polyp in 1927, and Shintaku et al (5) reported the second documented case of a blue nevus of the endometrium in a 36-year-old female with long-standing idiopathic amenorrhea or oligomenorrhea. The present study is the first to demonstrate a case of melanin-laden cells identified in the endometrial stroma and uterine cervix.…”

“…The other possibility is that they may be a result of the abnormal migration of neural crest-derived cells during fetal development (8). Furthermore, Shintaku et al (5) speculated that the melanin-laden cells in the endometrial stroma are not true melanocytes, but are altered or transformed endometrial stromal cells, since these cells had cytological features that were indistinguishable from those of the surrounding stromal cells. In the present case, the melanin-laden cells were observed in the endometrium and endocervix.…”

“…Although the uterine cervix is believed to be the most common extracutaneous location of blue nevi, the occurrence of the disease in the endometrial stroma has been reported, albeit rarely (4,5). The present study describes a case of endometrioid adenocarcinoma concurrent with a blue nevus of the endometrium and uterine cervix.…”

Cellular blue nevus of the vulva mimicking Bartholin’s gland abscess in a 15-year-old girl: a case report

“…Although it usually occurs in skin, it has been reported in other locations such as oral mucosa, sclera, vagina, cervix, endometrium, myometrium, ovary, prostate, spermatic cord, pulmonary hilus, orbit, conjunctiva, maxillary sinus, breast, scalp, neck, meninges, and lymph nodes [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. In gynecologic tract, the majority of these challenging lesions are common type and arise mainly in the endocervix followed by the vagina.…”