ABSTRACT
Background: Objectives: Uterine smooth muscle tumours are diagnostically challenging as well as scientifically intriguing with leiomyoma being the most common. On review of literature there are numerous studies on audit of hysterectomy specimens worldwide, however, studies focusing on detailed histopathologi cal analysis of leiomyomas are limited. Thereby, this study was conducted to identify the secondary changes as well as histological variants of leiomyoma, their frequency of occurrence and other associated clinicopathological factors Methods: A retrospecti ve audit of all the hysterectomy and myomectomy specimens was conducted over a period of 3 years (Jan 2016 to Dec 2018) comprising of a total of 155 cases with 388 leiomyomas (LM). The clinical details were retrieved, and histopathological slides reviewed for cellularity, mitosis, atypia, necrosis, any secondary changes or specific variants. Results: On histopathology, 19.1% LM showed degenerative changes and histologic variants were observed in 6.18% LM. Hyaline change was the most frequent degenerative ph enomenon in 82.43% (60/74) while cellular leiomyoma was the most common variant in 37.5% (9/24) LM. Conclusion: Certain histological variants make the differentiation from malignant tumors challenging. A thorough tissue sampling and strict adherence to histologic criteria coupled with a ncillary techniques like immunohistochemistry can help in excluding malignancy in most of the cases. Awareness regarding these is very important amongst youn g pathologists to avoid misdiagnosis and overtreatment leading to unwarranted stress to the patient.