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Benign Epithelial Tumors and Tumor-Like Lesions, Pathology of the Cervix

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Encyclopedia of Pathology

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Arias-Stella Reaction of the Uterine Cervix

Synonyms

Arias-Stella phenomenon; Change or effect

Definition

Arias-Stella reaction is a benign glandular change, due to increased gonadotropin stimulation. It refers to hypersecretory endocervical glands associated with nuclear atypia. The nuclear changes are due to an increase in DNA polyploidy, secondary to pregnancy-related hormonal stimuli in most cases (Wagner and Richart 1968; Arias-Stella 2002).

Clinical Features

  • Incidence

    The lesion is identified in 10–50% of hysterectomy specimens from pregnant patients.

  • Age

    It develops in young fertile women (19–44 years old) almost all pregnant, although very rare situations in which the lesion developed at older age (even in postmenopause) related to hormonal stimulation have been diagnosed.

  • Sex

    Female.

  • Site

    This is a lesion which typically develops in the endometrium, in association with intrauterine or ectopic pregnancy, gestational trophoblastic disease, related to hormonal treatment or oral...

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Stolnicu, S. (2022). Benign Epithelial Tumors and Tumor-Like Lesions, Pathology of the Cervix. In: van Krieken, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Pathology. Encyclopedia of Pathology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28845-1_5610-1

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