Epithelioid trophoblastic tumor: a case report and literature review

Abstract

Epithelioid trophoblastic tumor (ETT) is a very rare case of malignant trophoblastic tumor, which can occur particularly during the fertile age of women with a long history of abortion and delivery. ETT originates from the intermediate trophoblastic cells of chorion laeve. The main features of this tumor include lack of vessels within the tumor, nuclear hyperchromasia and pleomorphism and a large zone of necrosis and hyalinization. The clinical features of ETT are specific to each case and often consist of vaginal bleeding or amenorrhea in the absence of other complains. The beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (β-hCG) serum level cannot be an absolute criterion useful in defining diagnosis. The right diagnosis can only be established by a histopathological examination of the tissue picked-up via intrauterine curettage. This paper describes the case of a 35-year-old woman who required gynecological investigation for amenorrhea. The diagnosis established by biopsic curettage and the clinical evolution have influenced the physician's decision to perform hysterectomy. The only method to differentiate between the microscopic diagnosis of ETT and choriocarcinoma was the immunohistochemical staining of trophoblastic cells for cytokeratin AE1÷AE3, p63, Ki67. Despite the diagnosis of malignity, this tumor does not usually require a recommendation for chemotherapy and does not seem to have a bad prognostic. However, these data do not rule out that clinical behavior is sometimes difficult to predict. We analyzed the clinical and histology criteria in line with the data published in literature.