A case of placental site trophoblastic tumor.

Kang, Kyung Hwa; Lee, Seon Kyung; Hur, Hun; Yang, Moon Ho

Case Report

Korean Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology 2001;44(3):616-620.
Published online March 1, 2001.

A case of placental site trophoblastic tumor.

Kyung Hwa Kang, Seon Kyung Lee, Hun Hur, Moon Ho Yang

¹Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea.
²Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea.

Abstract

Placental site trophoblstic tumor(PSTT) is a rare variant of trophoblastic disease. This type of trophoblastic tumor apparently exhibits different biologic behaviors as compared with choriocarcinoma. Diagnosis is made by finding a predominance of intermediate trophoblasts and absence of fetal tissue in the dilatation and currettage specimens. The intermediate trophoblastic cells produce relatively little beta-hCG and hPL and unlike other trophoblastic tumors, they are frequently resistant to chemotherapy1. But patients with metastasis frequently exhibit a progression of disease and die despite of aggressive multiagent chemotherapy. We report a case of PSTT, in which a 36-year-old woman presented with vaginal bleeding after D&CB at 14 weeks of pregnancy. Despite of blood transfusion, the patient was under shock state, and hysterectomy was done. After hysterectomy, the pathological diagnosis was PSTT confirmed by immunohistochemical study, and the result was strong positive for hPL & cytokeratin but weak positve for beta-hCG2.

Key Words: PSTT, Choriocarcinoma, Intermediate trophoblastic cells