Question

Young women whose mothers took diethylstilbestrol during pregnancy are likely to develop one of the following genital malignancy

• A. Squamous-cell carcinoma
• B. Adenosquamous carcinoma
• C. Papillary adenocarcinoma
• D. Clear-cell adenocarcinoma

Hint:

Recall which rare vaginal cancer was first traced back to a drug given to pregnant mothers.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

Step 1: Understanding the Question:
Diethylstilbestrol (DES) is a synthetic estrogen that was once given to pregnant women to prevent miscarriage. Daughters exposed to it in the womb carry a raised risk of a specific rare cancer later in life, and the question wants us to name it.

Step 2: Key Formula or Approach:
DES exposure before birth changes how the vagina and cervix develop, leaving patches of glandular tissue (adenosis) in the vagina. Some of these patches can turn cancerous, and the type that has become firmly linked to DES exposure is clear cell adenocarcinoma of the vagina or cervix.

Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
Squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix is the common cervical cancer in the general population, and it is tied mainly to high risk HPV infection, not to DES exposure.
Adenosquamous carcinoma is a mixed tumor type that is not the classic finding described in DES daughters.
Papillary adenocarcinoma is not the tumor type historically reported in this exposed group.
Clear cell adenocarcinoma of the vagina and cervix was the very cancer that led doctors to first notice the harm caused by DES, appearing in young women in their teens and twenties whose mothers had taken the drug during pregnancy.

Step 4: Final Answer:
The genital cancer linked to prenatal DES exposure is clear cell adenocarcinoma, option (D).