Mediastinal choriocarcinoma masquerading as relapsed hodgkin lymphoma

Abstract

Primary mediastinal choriocarcinoma is a rare extragonadal germ cell malignancy. We describe the first case of a patient who developed mediastinal choriocarcinoma after treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). A 25-year-old man with classic HL, nodular sclerosis subtype, underwent treatment with splenectomy followed by radiation therapy. Unfortunately, his disease relapsed with a paraspinal mass, and he was subsequently treated with MOPP (mechlorethamine, Oncovin, procarbazine, and prednisone) alternating with ABVD (Adriamycin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine). He achieved a complete remission after 6 cycles. Ten years after treatment, the patient presented with a persistent cough, haemoptysis, right supraclavicular lymphadenopathy, and weight loss. His chest X-ray showed opacification of the lower right hemithorax with a widened mediastinum. Given unresponsiveness to several antibiotics and lack of evidence for lung volume loss, there were concerns over lung infiltration with relapsed lymphoma. Transbronchial fine needle aspiration biopsy suggested recurrence of his HL. MOPP alternating with ABVD was again given. Due to disease progression, brachytherapy as well as a cocktail of dexamethasone, cytarabine, and cisplatin were also tried. However, on a subsequent excisional lymph node biopsy, it turned out that the tumour was in fact choriocarcinoma and not relapsed HL. Unfortunately, despite aggressive therapy, the patient's disease rapidly progressed, and he died within 2 weeks.

Keywords: Choriocarcinoma; Germ cell tumour; Hodgkin lymphoma; Mediastinal tumour.

Fig. 1

Cytology of the patient's transbronchial aspirate from his suspected second relapse.

Fig. 2

Excisional lymph node biopsy with cells resembling RS cells.

Fig. 3

Excisional lymph node biopsy demonstrating positive staining for the cytokeratin marker CKCAM5.2.