Istrate-Ofiţeru, Anca-Maria, Berceanu, Sabina, Brătilă, Elvira, Mehedinţu, Claudia, Cîrstoiu, Monica M., Căpitănescu, Răzvan G., Voicu, Loredana, Ciortea, Răzvan, Tetileanu, Adrian V., and Berceanu, Costin
Introduction. Adenomyosis is a benign pathology defined by the presence of endometrial glands in the miometrium, accompanied by chronic pelvic pain, infertility and vaginal bleeding. It is a hormonal dependent condition and is common in reproductive age. Adenomyosis areas differ from the normal endometrium by increased local production of estrogen or prostaglandins and resistance to progesterone action. Materials and method. The study included 23 patients, aged 26-52 years old, diagnosed with adenomyosis. Postoperatively obtained specimens were included in paraffin and studied histologically and immunohistochemically. The blocks were cut by the microtome, the sections were applied on simple slides for histological staining of Hematoxylin-Eosin and on Poly-L-lysin slides for the immunohistochemical stains. The antibodies were: anti-estrogen receptors (ER), anti-progesterone receptors (PR), anticytokeratin 7 (CK7), anti-cytokeratin 20 (CK20). Results. Classical Hematoxylin-Eosin staining showed the presence of mono-layered, cylindrical glandular epithelial tissue in the structure of the myometrium, and with immunohistochemistry we showed that these glands were of endometrial origin, being CK7-positive and negative at CK20, making a differential diagnosis with an eventual metastasis from the digestive tract. The receptors for estrogen and progesterone are present in the structure of these glands. Conclusions. Adenomyosis is a benign pathology diagnosed with certainty by histopathological examination. Receptors for estrogen and progesterone are features for endometrial tissue, and cytokeratins make the differential diagnosis with digestive epithelium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]