Placental site trophoblastic tumor is a form of

gestational trophoblastic disease Gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) is a term used for a group of pregnancy-related tumours. These tumours are rare, and they appear when cells in the womb start to proliferate uncontrollably. The cells that form gestational trophoblastic tum ...

, which is thought to arise from

intermediate trophoblast Intermediate trophoblast is a distinct subtype of trophoblastic tissue that arises from the cytotrophoblast. It is sub-categorized by location: *Villous intermediate trophoblast: **at anchoring villi of trophoblastic column *Implantation site in ...

. The tumor may secrete

human placental lactogen Human placental lactogen (hPL), also called human chorionic somatomammotropin (HCS), is a polypeptide placental hormone, the human form of placental lactogen (chorionic somatomammotropin). Its structure and function are similar to those of human ...

, and result in a

false-positive A false positive is an error in binary classification in which a test result incorrectly indicates the presence of a condition (such as a disease when the disease is not present), while a false negative is the opposite error, where the test result ...

pregnancy test A pregnancy test is used to determine whether a female is pregnant or not. The two primary methods are testing for the female pregnancy hormone (human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG)) in blood or urine using a pregnancy test kit, and scanning with ...

. A placental site trophoblastic tumor is a monophasic neoplasm of the implantation site intermediate trophoblast, and usually a benign lesion, which comprises less than 2% of all gestational trophoblastic proliferations. Preceding conditions include molar pregnancy (5%). Compared to

choriocarcinoma Choriocarcinoma is a malignant, trophoblastic cancer, usually of the placenta. It is characterized by early hematogenous spread to the lungs. It belongs to the malignant end of the spectrum in gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD). It is also c ...

or invasive mole, hemorrhage is less conspicuous and serum β-HCG level is low, making early diagnosis difficult. Immunohistochemistry: Often stains with hPL, keratin, Mel-CAM, EGFR.

Treatment

Because

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs ( chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemothe ...

is ineffective; the patient should undergo hysterectomy.

Prognosis

10–20% of cases

metastasize Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then, ...

leading to death.

References

External links

{{Germ cell tumors Health issues in pregnancy Germ cell neoplasia