[Pulmonary resection in the management of gestational trophoblastic neoplasia: a clinical study]

To investigate the effect of surgical resection in the management of gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) patients with pulmonary metastases.

A retrospective review of the medical records of 62 GTN patients who underwent pulmonary resection was carried out. The cases were divided into recurrent group (group A, n = 10), drug-resistant group (group B, n = 28), and the group with satisfactory response to chemotherapy but residual pulmonary lesion (s) (group C, n = 25). One patient underwent lobectomy twice, and she was allocated simultaneously to groups A and B. The patients' median age, antecedent pregnancy, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) risk score, number of preoperative chemotherapy courses, preoperative beta-human chorionic gonadotrophin (beta-hCG) titer, lesion size, number of lobes affected, positive rate of histology, follow-ups and prognosis were compared between the three groups.

The proportion of high-risk patients in the three groups was 90%, 82% and 44%, respectively. The complete remission rates of the three groups were 90%, 79% and 100%, with relapse rates of 2/8, 15% and zero, respectively. Positive histology of the resected specimen was more frequently recognized in recurrent and drug-resistant groups (A 60%, B 36%, C 12%). In the drug-resistant group there were more preoperative chemotherapy sessions (A 3, B 7, C 5) and more patients with abnormal preoperative beta-hCG titer (A 50%, B 61%, C 12%).

Surgical resection is effective in the treatment of pulmonary metastases of GTN. Surgery is indicated when clinical evidence suggests that pulmonary metastatic disease causes relapse or drug-resistance and the lesions are relatively localized. Surgical resection is not recommended for patients with satisfactory response to chemotherapy but residual pulmonary lesions.