Worldwide survey of the results of treating gestational trophoblastic disease

To determine factors influencing outcome for patients with gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) from throughout the world.

Physicians known to treat GTD were sent a questionnaire.

There were 32 responses from 17 countries, totaling 26,153 patients. Of 14,093 patients with complete mole 20.6% developed trophoblastic neoplasia, and 5.7% died. There were 10,230 patients with partial mole, of whom 6.5% received therapy for neoplasia. There were 548 patients with post-term pregnancy choriocarcinoma, of whom 13.4% died. Of 137 patients with placental site trophoblastic tumor 16.1% died. The remaining 1,165 patients did not fit into a designated diagnostic category. The mortality rate for 2,818 patients with GTD primarily treated at a trophoblast center was 2.1%, as compared with 8% among 1,854 patients referred after failure of primary treatment (p < 0.01).

Patients treated by physicians experienced in the management of trophoblastic disease have better results and survival.