Choriocarcinoma: Gestational Trophoblastic Neoplasia

This condition describes a whole spectrum of diseases which include hydatidiform mole, invasive mole, choriocarcinoma, and placental site tumor. Up until about 40 years ago, if a diagnosis of choriocarcinoma was made for a patient, the cure rate was sadly very low. Fortunately, this has now radically changed and choriocarcinoma is one of the most curable of gynecological cancers. Hydatidiform moles are not cancers and invasive moles act somewhat like cancers. As with many other cancers, there is a sliding scale in terms of “aggressiveness,” hydatidiform mole is a local problem, whereas a choriocarcinoma or placental site tumor can be a disseminated problem; in other words, it can spread through the body. Your chances of being cured with this condition are very high, even if it has spread, either by using surgery or chemotherapy, or sometimes radiotherapy. Many women, after treatment for this condition, go on to have children.