Unusual clinical presentations of choriocarcinoma: A systematic review of case reports

Choriocarcinoma (CC) is a highly malignant tumor originating in the trophoblastic tissue. The clinical presentation of CC is so much varied that every case may be one of its kinds and thus can be a diagnostic challenge. Numerous case reports have been published in various journals regarding the unusual clinical presentations of this cancer. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review of all case reports in English language on gestational CC published in PubMed-indexed journals from 1998 to 2015. The main aim was to provide a summary and critical analysis of all the data and evidence published regarding the atypical clinical presentations of CC in recent years. In total, 121 case reports pertaining to unusual clinical manifestations of gestational CC were analyzed. The age of patients in whom cases were reported ranged from 17 to 67 years, and the time period between the index pregnancy and development of CC varied from 4 weeks to as long as 25 years. Cardiopulmonary complaints (20.66%) followed by gastrointestinal (18.43%) and central nervous system manifestations (17.67%) were found to be the most common. Through this review, the authors have made an attempt to discuss various manifestations with which a patient with gestational CC can present to clinician so that early diagnosis and timely management can be initiated, thus improving clinical prognosis.