ABSTRACT
Background: the aim of this study is to explain the epidemiologic characteristic of the patients with Gestational Trophoblastic Tumors [GTT]. GTT is among the rare human malignancies that can be cured even in the presence of widespread metastasis. Although persistent GTT usually occurred after molar pregnancy, it can occur after term pregnancy, abortion and ectopic pregnancy
Materials and Methods: in a descriptive study based on existing data, we reviewed the records of 85 cases of GTT in Imam Hossein, Taleghani and Mirza Koochak Khan teaching hospitals in Tehran during 1992 to 2002 .The epidemiologic variables taken into consideration include: age, parity score, antecedent pregnancy, mean serum Beta Human Chorionic Gonadotropin [HCG] level before therapeutic interventions, clinical manifestations, probable metastasis and staging
Results: mean age of the patients with GTT was 30.8 with standard deviation[SD] of 10.9 .80% of them were multipara and 80% developed GTT following molar pregnancy .64.3% of cases were in stage 1 [limited to uterus] and the other 35.7% of cases had distance metastasis to lung[16.7%], brain[8.2%], liver[8.2%], kidney[2.4%] and other sites. surprisingly, levels of [beta]HCG were less than 5000mIU/mL in more than half of the patients before therapeutic interventions
Conclusions: in this study most cases of GTT occurred after molar pregnancy, while it could be prevented by following [beta]HCG levels .More over, mean level of serum [beta]HCG was too low even in the presence of metastasis which needs further investigations