Retroperitoneal nongestational choriocarcinoma in a 25-year-old woman

ABSTRACT

Choriocarcinoma is a highly invasive and metastatic neoplasm which arises in women of reproductive age. It can be either gestational or nongestational in origin, but the latter form is very rare. Choriocarcinoma is characterized by the production of human chorionic gonadotropin. It can metastasize to distant organs such as lung, brain, liver, kidney, and vagina in the early stages of disease, but retroperitoneal metastasis is extremely rare. Treatment options include surgical intervention and chemotherapy. We present the case of a 25-year-old nulliparous woman who presented to our department with a retroperitoneal mass and negative urine human chorionic gonadotropin test, who was immunohistopathologically diagnosed with nongestational choriocarcinoma. The patient responded well to surgery and multi-drug chemotherapy.