Perimenopausal invasive hyadatidiform mole treated by total abdominal hysterectomy followed by chemotherapy

An invasive mole with pulmonary metastases in a 55-year-old postmenopausal Syrian woman: a case report and review of the literature

Background

Invasive mole is a subtype of gestational trophoblastic neoplasms (GTNs) that usually develops from the malignant transformation of trophoblastic tissue after molar evacuation. Invasive moles mostly occur in women of reproductive age, while they are extremely rare in postmenopausal women.

Case presentation

We present the case of a 55-year-old postmenopausal Syrian woman who was admitted to the emergency department at our hospital due to massive vaginal bleeding for 10 days accompanied by constant abdominal pain with diarrhea and vomiting. Following clinical, laboratory and radiological examination, total hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy was performed. Histologic examination of the resected specimens revealed the diagnosis of an invasive mole with pulmonary metastases that were diagnosed by chest computed tomography (CT). Following surgical resection, the patient was scheduled for combination chemotherapy. However, 2 weeks later the patient was readmitted to the emergency department due to severe hemoptysis and dyspnea, and later that day the patient died in spite of resuscitation efforts.

Conclusion

Although invasive moles in postmenopausal women have been reported previously, we believe our case is the first reported from Syria. Our case highlights the difficulties in diagnosing invasive moles in the absence of significant history of gestational trophoblastic diseases. The present study further reviews the diagnostic methods, histological characteristics and treatment recommendations.

Total hysterectomy versus uterine evacuation for preventing post-molar gestational trophoblastic neoplasia in patients who are at least 40 years old: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background

The clinical value of total hysterectomy for patients with hydatidiform mole (HM) being at least 40 years old remains highly controversial. Since the practice of hysterectomy has been applied globally for decades, there is an urgent need to perform a systematic review to assess its risks and benefits.

Methods

Six electronic databases, including four English databases and one Chinese database, were searched from the inception of each database till October 6th 2017. Studies were included if they: 1) were human studies, 2) explicitly indicated exposure to hysterectomy, 3) explicitly indicated control to uterine evacuation, 4) explicitly indicated the participants were older patients with HM being at least 40 years in age, 5) compared the outcome of interest as the incidence of post-molar GTN. Two authors independently conducted the literature search, study selection, data extraction. Pooled odds ratios were analyzed using Review Manager 5.3.

Results

The overall pooled effect size of total hysterectomy had a significant advantage in preventing post-molar gestational trophoblastic neoplasia over uterine evacuation with an OR of 0.19 (95% CI, 0.08–0.48; P = 0.0004) and a low heterogeneity (I² = 21%, P = 0.28). Subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis also showed similar results.

Conclusions

Total hysterectomy, as compared to uterine evacuation, is a better therapeutic method for patients with HM being at least 40 years old unless fertility is still desired.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12885-018-5168-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.