title: Doppler ultrasonography reveals blood flow signals within the masses of invasive moles in subjects with normal hCG levels after chemotherapy: Three case reports.
abstract: A consensus has formed that patients with invasive moles should continue with one to three cycles of chemotherapy after human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) levels have decreased to a normal level. However, the management plan has not been agreed for cases where Doppler ultrasonography (DU) indicates blood-flow signals within the tumor mass after one to three cycles of chemotherapy when the hCG concentration has returned to normal. The present study describes the clinical and therapeutic courses of three patients with invasive moles with confirmed blood-flow signals (by DU) after their hCG levels had normalized. One patient underwent surgery to remove the mass within the uterine muscle, while the other two patients decided to cease chemotherapy and were managed by follow-up appointments; all three patients had good outcomes. These data illustrate that patients with invasive moles should be followed up if DU indicates blood-flow signals in the tumor mass after one to three cycles of chemotherapy when the hCG level has decreased back to a normal level.
authors.affiliation: Reproductive Research Center, Renmin Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan, Hubei 442000, P.R. China ; Department of Radiation Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of the Medical College, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710004, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Zhao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Duan
keywords: Doppler ultrasonography; blood-flow signal; chemotherapy; human chorionic gonadotrophin; invasive moles