Choriocarcinoma - Choriocarcinoma Symptom, Causes, Treatment

Choriocarcinoma is the cancer of the placenta, a rare complication of pregnancy. Choriocarcinoma develops from reproductive tissue cells, which are very active. When these cells undergo cancerous changes, they grow and multiply very rapidly. A tumor forms and sheds cancer cells into the bloodstream at an early stage. Choriocarcinomas are one of the most dangerous germ cell cancers. Choriocarcinomas usually grow quickly and spread widely. Occasionally, this cancer grows so fast that the original tumor outgrows its blood supply and dies, leaving behind only a small scar.

Choriocarcinoma may result from malignant change in a hydatidiform mole (a benign overgrowth of the placenta). Choriocarcinoma is a rare, extremely malignant type of tumour arising from the trophoblast. The reasons that normal chorionic cells undergo cancerous change, with exaggeration of their natural and potent tendency to invade the uterine muscle and break down blood vessels, are unknown.

Symptoms of Choriocarcinoma

The most common symptom is bleeding, often severe, during the early months of pregnancy. Occasionally there may beno evidence of the cancer until after a spontaneousor induced abortion, or delivery, when ongoing bleeding from the uterus arouses suspicion. More common symptoms include:

• Vaginal spotting, bleeding
• Abnormal discharge, e.g., passage of villi (cystic grape-like clusters)
• Lower abdominal pain
• Nausea and/or vomiting
• Abnormal nipple discharge
• Swelling of the lower abdomen due to enlarged uterus
• Uterus that does not decrease in size after pregnancy
• Absent fetal heart tones

Causes of Choriocarcinoma

Choriocarcinomas result from genetic damage to a germ cell. Males with Klinefelter syndrome are especially likely to develop extragonadal germ cell tumors. Here is the list of some of the common causes:

• Genetic, more common in Asians than Blacks, and least common in Caucasians
• Older women, particularly those older than 40 years
• Multiple pregnancies
• Hydatidiform mole
• Pregnancy
• Abortion
• Ectopic pregnancy
• History of other tumors of the female reproductive tract

Diagnosis of of Choriocarcinoma

The diagnosis is confirmed by finding high levels of pregnancy hormones in the blood and urine and evidence of the cancer on ultrasound examination of the pelvic organs. Most choriocarcinomas make human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a hormone normally found only during pregnancy. The presence of hCG in the blood can help diagnose this cancer and monitor the success of treatment.

Treatment of of Choriocarcinoma

Choriocarcinoma is treated with anti-cancer drugs. hysteractomy is needed only if bleeding continues in spite of trea ment. In the past, choriocarcinoma was usually fatal because of its rapid spread in the pelvis and via the bloodstream to distant organs, particularly the lungs and brain. Choriocarcinomas are usually treated by surgical removal of the tumor and chemotherapy . Radiation is occasionally used, particularly for tumors in the brain. Today, with early detection and the use of anticancer drugs, most patients can be cured and their fertility preserved

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