Jaundice and Elevated Beta-Human Chorionic Gonadotropin in a Female: Duodenal Choriocarcinoma, Not Pregnancy

A 29-year-old woman with developmental delay presented with 2.5 weeks of jaundice of the skin with accompanying microcytic anemia (hemoglobin 6.8 g/dL, mean corpuscular volume 70.5 fL), elevated liver enzymes (aspartate aminotransferase 77 U/L, alanine aminotransferase 95 U/L, alkaline phosphatase 362 U/L), total bilirubin (9.5 mg/dL; 4.4 mg/dL direct), lipase (325 U/L), and cancer antigen 19-9 (68 U/mL). The patient had no prior gastrointestinal or liver disease. CT of the chest/abdomen/pelvis found a large lobulated non-fully obstructing mass in the second and third part of the duodenum, with endoscopic biopsies yielding an invasive, well-differentiated adenocarcinoma positive for cytoplasmic-stained cells to antibody to beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) antigen, suggesting a duodenal choriocarcinoma. Treatment included biliary drainage with a percutaneous transhepatic catheter and folinic acid, fluorouracil, and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX) chemotherapy, but a repeat CT scan five months later revealed an increase in tumor size and invasion; the patient died shortly thereafter. Beta-hCG-secreting choriocarcinomas are rare, rapidly growing, highly invasive malignant tumors and are uncommonly present at extragonadal sites.