Management of relapsed gestational trophoblastic neoplasia: What can help to reduce the re-recurrence rate?

AIM: To explore the risk factors for re-recurrence in relapsed gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) and therapeutic approaches to reduce the re-recurrence rate. METHODS: Data of relapsed GTN treated in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of Fudan University from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2020, were reviewed retrospectively. Risk factors associated with re-recurrence were analyzed using Logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: A total of 39 relapsed GTN patients were included in our study. At the time of the first relapse, 14 patients received single-agent chemotherapy and 25 patients received multi-agent chemotherapy. Surgery was performed in 19 patients. Complete remission was achieved in all of the patients. Re-recurrence occurred in 21 patients. Univariate analysis suggested that unifocal recurrence was the only factor significantly associated with re-recurrence (OR = 0.25, p = 0.04). Recurrence pattern-based subgroup analysis showed that the proportion of re-recurrence was lower in patients who received both surgery and chemotherapy compared to those who received only chemotherapy in the unifocal recurrence group (3/11 vs. 2/4), but not in the non-unifocal recurrence group (7/8 vs. 9/16). The results of the multivariate analysis showed that there was no significant difference in re-recurrence rates between the surgical approaches and that the non-unifocal recurrence pattern was an independent risk factor for re-recurrence. CONCLUSIONS: For relapsed GTN with unifocal recurrence pattern, surgical removal of the lesion can effectively reduce the re-recurrence rate.

Primary Gestational Trophoblastic Disease of the Fallopian Tube: A Case Series Analysis and Literature Review.

Objective: To review the clinicopathological characteristics, diagnosis, and treatment of tubal gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) misdiagnosed as tubal pregnancy. Study Design: From January 1, 2004, to December 31, 2013, a total of 619 patients with GTD were recorded at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of Fudan University. Among them, 4 cases of tubal GTD were initially misdiagnosed as tubal pregnancies. We retrospectively analyzed the clinicopathologic characteristics, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of those 4 patients. Results: All 4 patients showed symptoms similar to those of tubal pregnancy. The serum human chorionic gonadotropin (ß-hCG) level at presentation was elevated >50,000 mIU/mL. All cases were treated by laparoscopic surgery. Misdiagnosis of the 3 cases of complete hydatidiform mole (CHM) and 1 choriocarcinoma were identified by postoperational histopathology. At 7 days postoperation the ß-hCG level decreased to 304­6,115 mIU/mL. One case of tubal CHM received a second operation, and 3 cases received chemotherapy due to the unsatisfactory decrease in ß-hCG level. The patient with choriocarcinoma received routine adjuvant chemotherapy. All of the patients achieved complete remission, and none relapsed for a median of 20 months' follow-up. Conclusion: Tubal GTD is rare and is often misdiagnosed for tubal pregnancy. Salpingectomy, intraoperative frozen section, and close follow-up were recommended, and prophylactic chemotherapy was unnecessary.

Placental site trophoblastic tumor presented with vaginal metastasis.

Placental site trophoblastic tumor (PSTT) is a rare type of gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN). It is rising from the abnormal proliferation of intermediate trophoblastic cells with occasional multinuclear giant cells, with the potential for local invasion and metastasis. For its untypical and changeable clinical characteristics, the diagnosis and management are still poorly understood. Here we documented a case of PSTT with vaginal lesion as her unique presentation. After surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy, the patient was cured.

Expression of steroid and xenobiotic receptor in uterine carcinosarcoma, leiomyosarcoma and endometrial stromal sarcoma.

We analyzed the expression of the steroid and xenobiotic receptor (SXR) in human uterine sarcomas and evaluated its clinical significance. Forty-seven cases with archival specimens were examined for SXR expression using immunohistochemistry. All cases were scored using a semi-quantitative histological scoring (HSCORE) method. Specimens with a HSCORE >40 were regarded as SXR-positive. Various clinicopathological variables, including the expression status of estrogen receptor (ER)-α, progesterone receptor (PR) and Ki67 (MIB-1) were examined. The mean SXR HSCOREs of carcinosarcoma (CS) and leiomyosarcoma (LMS) were 9.13 and 23.6, respectively, and SXR-positive rates were 3 out of 24 (12.5%) and 4 out of 17 (23.5%), respectively. SXR was not detected in endometrial stromal sarcoma (ESS). In CS cases, significant differences were detected between the expression of SXR and age and disease stages. There was no significant correlation between SXR-positive status and either disease-free survival or overall survival. Our results support an association between SXR and malignant behavior. Our results show that overexpression of SXR may represent a useful marker to identify patients with advanced-stage CS. In addition, our results showed that SXR may aid in the diagnosis of uterine sarcomas.

Steroid and Xenobiotic Receptor (SXR) as a possible prognostic marker in epithelial ovarian cancer.

We examined the expression of the steroid and xenobiotic receptor (SXR) and evaluated its clinical significance in human epithelial ovarian carcinoma. One hundred forty-one cases were examined using immunohistochemistry for SXR with archival specimens. All cases were scored using a semi-quantitative histological scoring (HSCORE) method. Specimens with an HSCORE > 60 were regarded as SXR-positive. Various clinicopathologic variables were examined. SXR showed significant differences in age, histology, grade, ER alpha and PR. SXR was detected in 35 of 141 (24.8%) ovarian cancer tissues. There was a statistically significant negative correlation between SXR-positive status and both disease-free survival and overall survival (P= 0.0415 and 0.0316, respectively), independent of stage (P= 0.0167 and 0.021, respectively). In multivariate analysis, SXR was a statistically independent risk factor for both disease-free survival and overall survival (P= 0.049 and 0.0354). Our results support an association of SXR between ER alpha and PR in epithelial ovarian cancers. Our data suggest that SXR is a prognostic factor in epithelial ovarian cancer and may represent a useful marker to identify patients at risk of recurrence or death.