To evaluate complications after different vulvectomies performed because of vulvar cancer. Retrospective analysis of 149 patients who underwent vulvectomy. Overweight, central or bilateral location of the tumor, and non-radical surgery were significant predictors of wound infections. Antimicrobial prophylaxis did not prevent wound infection. Wound infections are major determinants for both acute and late complications.
Postoperative complications reduce with increasing use of modified vulvectomies.
A case report. Malignant melanoma in the vagina is very rare, but its diagnosis is usually easy if a melanin pigment is present. With cytodiagnosis, however, it is difficult to differentiate amelanotic melanoma or scantily pigmented melanoma from other conditions. In the present case, monoclonal antibody HMB-45, the efficacy of which has been established in histologic studies, was used in the cytodiagnosis of amelanotic melanoma in the vagina. A woman, aged 78 years, presented with a brownish, nodular tumor, diameter 3 cm, in the vagina.