[Metastatic chorionepithelioma--a rare cause of digestive hemorrhage]

The authors present the case of a female patient aged 19 years with chorionepithelioma, multiple pulmonary metastases, and an unique intestinal metastasis, complicated by severe digestive haemorrhage and haemoperitoneum. Surgery was carried out in risky conditions and consisted in segmental enterectomy and subtotal hysterectomy, and bilateral adnexectomy. The postoperative evolution was unsatisfactory, and the patient died following continued digestive bleeding, probably due to coagulation disturbances induced by prolonged loss of blood. Although the disease is encountered and treated in ob-gyn departments, the general surgeon can be confronted by such complications of this affection which may take on extremely severe aspects, and where surgery, provided that is performed sufficiently early, can save the patient's life.