Gestational trophoblastic neoplasia natural history, complications and prognosis

Template:Choriocarcinoma Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Natural history

• Patient has early symptoms like vaginal bleeding, passing of tissue resembling a “bunch of grapes” from the vagina, the abdomen may grow at a much faster rate than with a normal pregnancy
• nausea and vomiting, and absent fetal movement during pregnancy.
• As the tumor grows larger, patient may notice symptoms like lump in the vagina, hemoptysis, chest pain, trouble breathing, headache, dizziness, jaundice, paralysis, seizure, dysarthria, and dysphasia.

Prognosis

• The prognosis for cure of patients with GTDs is good even when the disease has spread to distant organs, especially when only the lungs are involved.
• The probability of cure depends on the following:

• Histologic type (invasive mole or choriocarcinoma)
• Extent of spread of the disease/largest tumor size
• Level of serum beta-hCG
• Duration of disease from the initial pregnancy event to start of treatment
• Number and specific sites of metastases
• Nature of antecedent pregnancy
• Extent of prior treatment

Complications

• Recurrence
• Anemia