Malakoplakia of the Endometrium: A Rare Unexpected Disease Raising Clinical Concern for Malignancy

Abstract

Malakoplakia is a rare disease that manifests as a histiocytic inflammatory process and most often occurs in the urinary bladder. It is caused by an impaired capacity of histiocytes to kill and digest bacteria. The typical histopathologic findings are sheets of histiocytes with granular eosinophilic cytoplasm and characteristic Michaelis–Gutmann bodies, spherical bodies with a targetoid appearance. Malakoplakia is even rarer in the gynecologic tract, and our literature search found only 21 published patients of malakoplakia involving the endometrium. Here we report a 60-year-old female patient who presented with recurrent pelvic infections and postmenopausal bleeding, which raised concern for an endometrial malignancy. Hysterectomy with salpingo-oophorectomy revealed malakoplakia involving the endometrium and also the right ovary. Michaelis–Gutmann bodies were visible on the intraoperative frozen section that was performed to rule out an endometrial malignancy. We summarize the clinicopathologic findings of the published patients of endometrial malakoplakia.