Abstract: To analyze the treatment method and prognostic variables of primary malignant vaginal tumor. Methods: Data from 58 cases with primary malignant vaginal tumor, treated in our hospital from 1988 to 2000, were reviewed retrospectively. Of these cases, 11 were classified as stageⅠ, 16 as stage Ⅱ, 18 as stage Ⅲ and 13 as stage Ⅳ. Twenty- seven cases were squamous cell carcinomas,18 were adenocarcinomas and 13 were other histological types. There were 3 types of treatment:simple surgery (n=23), radiotherapy alone (n=17) and surgery plus radiotherapy (n=18). Results: The overall 5- year survival rate was 51.72%; that is, the 5- year survival rate was 72.73% for stage Ⅰ disease,62.5% for stage Ⅱ, 55.56% for stage Ⅲ and 15.38% for stage Ⅳ. There was no significant difference between treatment with simple surgery, radiotherapy alone or surgery plus radiotherapy (P=0.985). Univariate analysis showed that the histological type (P=0.030), tumor size (P=0.025) and clinical stage (P=0.022) were prognostic factors, and the multivariate analysis indicated that the histological type (P=0.044), tumor size (P=0.023) and clinical stage (P=0.012) were independent prognostic factors.Conclusion: Treatment of primary malignant vaginal tumor should be individualized, with priority given to radiotherapy as treatment, and then to surgery . The independent prognostic variables include clinical stage, tumor size and histological type.