title: Choriocarcinoma of the lung: report of a case.
abstract: In this report, a 27-year-old woman with a solitary pulmonary nodule is described. Because computed tomography-guided biopsy could not confirm the diagnosis, surgical treatment was performed by video-assisted thoracic surgery. Histological findings showed cytotrophoblasts and syncytiotrophoblasts, suggesting choriocarcinoma. However, there were no abnormal findings on gynecological examination, including ultrasonography, magnetic resonance imaging, and positron-emission tomography. Choriocarcinoma is a malignant neoplasm and can arise after a pregnancy, as a component of germ cell tumors, or in association with a poorly differentiated somatic carcinoma. Our patient, a young female with an antecedent gestation, has no recurrence after surgery. There were tumor emboli in pulmonary arteries and no component of primary lung carcinoma on histological examination. These findings indicate that the lesion was a metastasis of gestational choriocarcinoma. A rare case of a patient with metastatic gestational choriocarcinoma of a solitary pulmonary nodule without any uterine abnormality is presented.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, Nippon Medical School, Chiba Hokuso Hospital, 1715 Kamagari Inzai-shi, Chiba 270-1694, Japan. t-ibi@nms.ac.jp
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ibi
authors.forename: Kyoji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hirai
authors.forename: Ryuzo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bessho
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kawamoto
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koizumi
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shimizu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001706:Biopsy; D002822:Choriocarcinoma / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery; D011247:Pregnancy; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000473:pathology; D003074:Solitary Pulmonary Nodule / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery; D020775:Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014594:Uterine Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*