HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Author home page(s): Pier Luigi Filosso Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Arslanian, A. Articles by Papotti, M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Arslanian, A. Articles by Papotti, M. Related Collections Lung - cancer

J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2003;125:193-196
© 2003 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery

Brief Communications

Primary choriocarcinoma of the lung

From the Department of Thoracic Surgery^a and the Department of Oncology and Biomedical Science,^b University of Torino, Italy.

Received for publication March 15, 2002. Accepted for publication April 30, 2002. Address for reprints: Anna Arslanian, MD, University of Torino, San Giovanni Battista Hospital, Department of Thoracic Surgery, Via Genova, 3 10126 Torino, Italy (E-mail: slani@interfree.it).

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

Choriocarcinoma is a malignant proliferation of the Langerhans cell and of syncytial cells of trophoblastic origin that is normally situated in the female genital tract after a gestational event such as molar pregnancy, term pregnancy, abortion, or ectopic pregnancy. ¹ Rarely it occurs in either sex as a midline lesion in the retroperitoneum, mediastinum, and the region of the pineal gland. Less frequently it is found in the bladder, liver, stomach, and colon, where it is seen in combination with adenocarcinoma. ^2-4 In men, choriocarcinoma occurs in the testis in combination with such tumors as seminoma, teratoma, and embryonal carcinoma. ¹ The literature contains few cases of lung localization of choriocarcinoma. The prognosis of this tumor is extremely poor, despite surgical and chemotherapeutic treatment. ⁵ We report a surgically treated case of choriocarcinoma in a 37-year-old woman who came to our attention because of a lung tumor with radiologic characteristics similar to those of a solitary fibrous tumor of the pleura.

Clinical summary

During surgical evaluation for cholecystectomy for cholelithiasis in a 37-year-old woman, the chest radiograph showed an opacity in the right inferior pulmonary lobe (Figure 1). Computed tomographic scans demonstrated a well-demarcated mass similar to solitary fibrous tumor of the pleura (Figure 2). On physical examination, the woman appeared healthy with stable vital signs. The patient referred in her history to an operation for vesicular mole that had occurred 7 years previously.

View larger version (112K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Fig. 1. Chest radiograph showing . . . [Full Text of this Article]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				N. Girard, M. Barbareschi, J.-F. Cordier, and B. Murer What is a rare tumour and how should it be dealt with clinically? Pathology of the Lung, June 30, 2010; 85 - 133. [Abstract] [Fulltext] [PDF]