Cytologic diagnosis of vulvar Paget's disease by means of brushing smear: report of a case.

Paget's disease of the vulva is a rare entity; since it may show the same clinical symptoms as benign chronic vulvitis, it may result in a delayed diagnosis. A 63-year-old woman was found to have an eczematoid pink to red lesion located in the vulva. Scraping cytology of the vulva showed isolated malignant cells of Paget type. The patient underwent wide local excision of the vulvar tumor and histopathological examination of resected specimens revealed that Paget cells were distributed singly or tended to form small nests in the epidermis. We consider vigorous brushing cytology to be a useful initial study for cancer screening of patients for any suspicious vulvar lesions.