Malignant Mullerian mixed tumors of the uterus: a study of 21 cases.

In a study of 21 malignant Mullerian mixed tumors of the uterus seen at The New York Hospital from 1957 to 1977, we found an unexpectedly high incidence (67%) of heterologous tumors which we attribute to an assiduous search for striated cells. Four patients, all of whom had had heterologous tumors, were free of tumor 3 1/2 to 17 years after diagnosis. The tumors were confined to the corpus and exhibited no more than moderate myometrial invasion. The heterologous element was rhabdomyosarcoma in three cases and osteosarcoma in one. Fifteen cases were treated in the last decade as compared with six in the previous decade.