[Advanced gestational choriocarcinoma. A clinical-pathological study of 40 cases]

Forty two cases of advanced gestational choriocarcinoma were examined, with 4 of these patients being hospitalized for less than 24 hours. Given the non specific and atypical nature of the symptomatology, it was correctly diagnosed in 20 of these cases. In the other 22 cases where the predominant clinical status was established as a result of the localized invasion of neighboring structures or through metastasis, a variety of diagnoses were given, including uterine cervical carcinoma, endometrial carcinoma, pulmonary metastasis, brain tumor, bleeding of the gastrointestinal tract. The 20 patient diagnosed with choriocarcinoma were treated in the following manner: nine were operated for hysterectomies, with one of these also receiving an omentectomy, seven more were given chemotherapy treatment based upon methotrexate, and the remaining for were simply stabilized, which produced unfavorable results in that they survived from one to twenty weeks longer, with an average on only five weeks.