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Vol.57 No.4 contents | Japanese/English |
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- Case Report -
A Case of Primary Mediastinal Choriocarcinoma in an Elderly Woman
Shouichi Okamoto1,2, Jun Ito2, Hitomi Yoshikawa2, Shunsuke Kato3, Kazuhisa Takahashi21Department of Respiratory Medicine, Saiseikai Kawaguchi General Hospital, Japan, 2Department of Respiratory Medicine, 3Department of Clinical Oncology, Juntendo University School of Medicine and Graduate School of Medicine, Japan
Background. Primary choriocarcinoma of the mediastinum is a rare form of extragonadal germ cell tumor that has a poorer prognosis in comparison to other germ cell tumors. In addition, primary choriocarcinoma of the mediastinum most often develops in young men. We encountered a case of primary choriocarcinoma of the mediastinum in what appears to be the oldest patient reported to date. Case. This case involved an 82-year-old woman with left back pain. The patient was found to have a mediastinal mass and pleural effusion. She was diagnosed with primary choriocarcinoma of the mediastinum based on the results of an ultrasound-guided needle biopsy. Chemotherapy with cisplatin and etoposide shrank the tumor and her β-HCG level decreased; however, adverse events precluded the continuation of treatment. The patient died approximately 9 weeks after the diagnosis. Conclusion. Although decreased tolerance of chemotherapy is a problem that needs to be resolved, chemotherapy should prolong survival, even in elderly patients. Although extragonadal germ cell tumors rarely develop in elderly patients, an effective treatment for these tumors should be developed in the future.
key words: Primary mediastinal choriocarcinoma, Extragonadal germ cell tumor, The elderly, Human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG)
Received: January 12, 2017
Accepted: April 17, 2017
JJLC 57 (4): 299-303, 2017
