Gestational choriocarcinoma transmission following multiorgan donation

Donors risk assessment in transplantation: From the guidelines to their real-world application

Transplantation of an organ from a donor carries an unavoidable risk of tumor transmission. The need to extend the donor pool increases the use of organs from donors with malignancies and potential disease transmission is a constant tension influencing donor suitability decisions. Current classification systems for the assessment of donor malignancy transmission risk have evolved from reports of potential transmission events in recipients to national donation and transplant surveillance agencies. Although the risk of malignancy transmission is very low in the general transplant setting it must constantly be balanced with the transplant benefits. Guidelines are mainly based on large registries and sparse case reports of transmission, so they cannot cover all the possible situations. For this reason, in 2004 in Italy, the National Transplant Center gave rise to the Second Opinion Service, charged by the Ministry of Health, by structuring expertise in diagnostic oncology and risk transmission and making it available to the Italian Transplant Centers. In this paper the registry of the Italian Oncological Second Opinion was reviewed, from 2016 to 2018, to detail the most frequent and problematic neoplastic topics addressed, those are separately reported and discussed. Furthermore, a review of the most recent strategies and risk stratification is provided, according to the most recent literature evidence and to the European Guidelines.

[Breast cancer and organ transplantation: Systematic review and meta-analysis]

OBJECTIVES

Our main objective was to investigate donor-transmitted epithelial cancers of all origins in comparison with breast cancers, with analysis of the carcinological outcome of recipients. Our secondary objective was to define medical check-up to be performed before any organ procurement from a donor with a history of breast cancer.

METHODOLOGY

We performed a systematic review of the literature up to June 1st 2022 by including all original articles (including clinical cases) reporting cases of epithelial cancer transmitted from donor to recipient, followed by a meta-analysis of epidemiological and survival data.

RESULTS

In total, we included 52 articles (31 clinical cases and 21 cohort studies), representing 91,388 donors, 236,142 recipients, and 2591 cases of transmitted cancer. The risk of transmitted cancer was significantly higher with a history of breast cancer compared with a history of other cancer (RR=9.48 P=0.0025). In clinical cases, the pre-donation check-up was specified in only 33.3% of publications. The time between transplantation and cancer occurrence was longer in cases of breast cancer transmission compared to other epithelial cancers: 1435.8 days versus 297.6 (P<0.001).

CONCLUSION

Organ donation from a person previously treated for breast cancer or having a risk of occult breast cancer is possible in some situations but requires an adapted pre-donation assessment, the respect of good practice guidelines and an expert opinion in complex situations.

Gestational Choriocarcinoma Manifesting as Spontaneous Hemothorax in Third Trimester of Pregnancy: A Case Report

Gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) is an aggressive malignancy arising from the trophoblastic tissue. It is rarely seen in association with advanced intrauterine pregnancy. Most common manifestations are due to bleeding caused by the rich vascularity of trophoblastic tissue. We describe here a case of a 28-year-old female patient who presented to us at 32 weeks of pregnancy with sudden onset dyspnea and hemodynamic instability. On evaluation, imaging techniques revealed a gross left hemothorax requiring intercostal tube insertion for stabilization. Emergency thoracotomy and hemothorax drainage were performed wherein a tumor mass in the lower lobe of left lung was identified and resected. Histopathological examination confirmed the diagnosis of choriocarcinoma. Beta HCG levels were found to be elevated. Final diagnosis of a FIGO stage IV high-risk gestational choriocarcinoma was made. Following this, six cycles of multi-agent EMA-CO chemotherapy was administered to the patient. Patient had an excellent response to treatment with documented serial fall in β HCG levels and she continues to be in remission after 6 months of follow-up. In conclusion, in the circumstance of any pregnant women presenting with abnormal bleeding symptoms such as hemothorax, choriocarcinoma as a cause should be considered for early diagnosis and effective management.

A rare case of gestational ovarian choriocarcinoma coexistent with intrauterine pregnancy

OBJECTIVE

To report the rare case of gestational primary ovarian choriocarcinoma coexistent with intrauterine pregnancy, successfully treated with surgery and systemic chemotherapy. We also describe the utility of short tandem repeat (STR) genotyping in the diagnosis of choriocarcinoma.

CASE REPORT

A 38-year-old woman at 17 gestational weeks presented with an ovarian tumor rupture in the left ovary. Left salpingo-oophorectomy was performed and the patient was diagnosed with gestational ovarian choriocarcinoma via histopathology and STR genotyping. After artificial abortion, the patient underwent 8 cycles of chemotherapy. Abdominal hysterectomy was performed because of the presence of low levels of human chorionic gonadotropin and the tumor that developed behind the uterus. However, no viable choriocarcinoma cells were found in the residual tumor, suggesting that the patient achieved full remission.

CONCLUSIONS

Early detection is crucial in treating choriocarcinomas; thus, clinicians should consider the possibility of choriocarcinoma at the presence of an ovarian tumor during pregnancy. Gestational and non-gestational choriocarcinomas differ in prognosis and sensitivity to chemotherapy due to their different etiologies. Therefore, STR genotyping may be beneficial in predicting the patient's prognosis or selecting the appropriate regimen.

Long-term survival after choriocarcinoma transmitted by liver graft: A successful report in pediatric transplantation

BACKGROUND

LT is the standard of care for many pediatric liver disorders. Although long-term outcomes have improved, some rare complications such as transmission of occult donor tumors have been reported.

CASE REPORT

An adolescent diagnosed with tyrosinemia was submitted to LT from a previous healthy donor due to HCC. Almost 8 months after LT, the patient presented a nodular hepatic lesion. Clinically, he had mild weight loss, lower limb edema, and gynecomastia. Thorax CT found lesions in the left lung parenchyma, which showed no increased uptake in PET SCAN. Liver biopsy revealed a carcinoma with desmoplastic stroma. ISS was withdrawn, and palliative chemotherapy was started for presumptive HCC relapse. AFP remained normal, but HCG had reached unexpected values of 1984 IU/L. As we requested detailed information about the other organ recipients from the same donor, we found that one of them passed away due to disseminated tumor. Five months after the beginning of chemotherapy, the patient underwent resection of liver segments V and VI. Histological examination confirmed liver metastatic choriocarcinoma. At the time of writing, with 11 years of follow-up, the patient had sustained remission with no signs of relapse.

DISCUSSION

This case reports a diagnostic challenge in an adolescent with a particular unique background and a very rare pattern of tumor transmission. The authors aim to highlight the risk of cancer-bearing organs reveled post-LT and to testimony the experience of the successful outcome after a choriocarcinoma transmitted by liver graft.

Discovered cancers at postmortem donor examination: A starting point for quality improvement of donor assessment

BACKGROUND

clinical and imaging investigations allow a detailed assessment of an organ donor, but a quota of cancer still elude detection. Complete autopsy of donors is even less frequently performed, due to economic issues and increasing availability of high-quality imaging. The aim of this study is to gather evidence from the literature on donor malignancy discovered at autopsy following organ donation and to discuss the utility and limitations of autopsy practice in the field of transplantation.

METHODS

A systematic search according to PRISMA guidelines was carried out in Pubmed and Embase databases until September 2020 to select articles with reporting of cancer discovered in a donor at postmortem examination. Cancer discover in not-transplant setting were excluded. A descriptive synthesis was provided.

RESULTS

Of 7388 articles after duplicates removal, 56 were included. Fifty-one studies reported on complete autopsy, while 5 dealt only with limited autopsy (prostate and central nervous system). The number of autopsies ranged between 1 and 246 with a total of 823 autopsies performed. The most frequent cancer discovered at autopsy was lymphoma (n = 13, 15%), followed by renal cell carcinoma (RCC) (n = 11, 13%), non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (n = 10, 11%), melanoma (n = 10, 11%), choriocarcinoma (n = 6, 7%) and glioblastoma (GBM) (n = 6, 7%).

CONCLUSIONS

Lymphoma and melanoma are still difficult-to-detect cancers both during donor investigation and at procurement, whilst prostate cancer and choriocarcinoma are almost always easily detected nowadays thank to blood markers and clinical examination. There have been improvements with time in pre-donation detection procedures which are now working well, particularly when complete imaging investigations are performed, given that detection rate of CT/MRI is high and accurate. Autopsy can play a role to help to establish the correct donor management pathways in case of cancer discover. Furthermore, it helps to better understand which cancers are still eluding detection and consequently to refine guidelines' assessment procedures.

Donor Choriocarcinoma Transmission From Solid Organ Transplantation: A Case Report

Transplantation of any organ has some inherent risk of disease transmission, such as infection and malignancy. The present study aims to describe 2 cases of choriocarcinoma transmission after kidney and liver transplantation originating from the same patient. The donor was a 17-year-old woman who died of cerebral hemorrhage. Both organ recipients died of metastatic choriocarcinoma few months after the transplantation, within days after starting chemotherapy. Retrospective hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin hormone) analysis in donor's blood stored at the time of donation had a result of 9324 mIU/mL. Despite its rarity, clinicians should be aware of the risk of transplant-related choriocarcinoma from female donors in childbearing age. In some cases, hCG dosage should be performed before donation.

Choriocarcinoma with lumbar muscle metastases: A case report

BACKGROUND

Choriocarcinoma is a highly malignant trophoblastic tumor that presents with early symptoms similar to those of an ectopic pregnancy. Here we present a patient with suspected ectopic pregnancy diagnosed by laparoscopic surgery in our hospital. The patient was found to have choriocarcinoma that had metastasized to the lumbar muscle and presented with symptoms similar to those of an ectopic pregnancy.

CASE SUMMARY

The patient was a 34-year-old female who complained of amenorrhea lasting 53 d, 7 d of right lower back pain, and 3 d of right lower abdominal pain. Transvaginal ultrasonography revealed the absence of a gestational sac in the uterus and a mass in the left adnexa. After 6 d of re-examination, ultrasound and computed tomography (CT) examination were performed on the mass located in the left adnexa area. We also noted that the patient’s serum β-human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) level was increased. Considering an ectopic pregnancy, we performed a laparoscopy and hysteroscopy. During the operation, a left ovarian mixed echogenic mass approximately 2.5 cm × 2.0 cm with no villous tissue was found. Postoperative levels of serum hCG continued to increase. Lung CT examination showed lung nodules. Both CT and magnetic resonance imaging showed a mixed echogenic mass in the lumbar muscle. Considering lumbar metastasis of choriocarcinoma, six courses of cisplatin, dactinomycin, and etoposide chemotherapy were given after surgery. The patient’s serum β-hCG level decreased to normal and the mixed echogenic mass in the lumbar muscle decreased in size after the fifth course of chemotherapy. All symptoms subsequently disappeared after treatment.

CONCLUSION

In summary, lumbar metastasis from choriocarcinoma is extremely rare. Appropriate chemotherapy can successfully treat these metastasized tumors.

Donor-transmitted cancer in kidney transplant recipients: a systematic review

The transmission of cancer from a donor organ is a rare event but has important consequences. Aim of this systematic review was to summarize all the published evidence on cancer transmission in kidney recipients. We reviewed published case reports and series describing the outcome of recipients with donor-transmitted cancer until August 2019. A total of 128 papers were included, representing 234 recipients. The most common transmitted cancers were lymphoma (n = 48, 20.5%), renal cancer (42, 17.9%), melanoma (40, 17.1%), non-small cell lung cancer (n = 13, 5.6%), neuroendocrine cancers comprising small cell lung cancer (n = 11, 4.7%) and choriocarcinoma (n = 10, 4.3%). There was a relative lack of glioblastoma and gastrointestinal cancers with only 6 and 5 cases, respectively. Melanoma and lung cancer had the worst prognosis, with 5-years overall survival of 43% and 19%, respectively; while renal cell cancer and lymphomas had a favorable prognosis with 5-years overall survival of 93 and 63%, respectively. Metastasis of cancer outside the graft was the most important adverse prognostic factor. Overall reporting was good, but information on donors' cause of death and investigations at procurement was often lacking. Epidemiology of transmitted cancer has evolved, thanks to screening with imaging and blood tests, as choriocarcinoma transmission have almost abolished, while melanoma and lymphoma are still difficult to detect and prevent.

A Successfully Treated Metastatic Choriocarcinoma Coexistent With Pregnancy: A Case Report of a 4-Year Follow-Up

Gestational choriocarcinoma ended with a successful parturition is extremely rare, especially in cases where multiple metastases occurred.A 29-year-old Chinese primigravida was admitted with vaginal bleeding at 32 gestational week, and diagnosed with gestational choriocarcinoma with vaginal, pulmonary, and cerebral metastasis after pathological, and imaging examination. At 33 gestational week, a healthy infant was delivered by cesarean section. Although no evidence of choriocarcinoma or any other forms of gestational trophoblastic diseases was found in the placenta and uterine curettages, the patient was given 7 cycles of postpartum chemotherapy. Her serum beta-human chorionic gonadotropin level fell to the normal range, and the metastatic lesions reduced. The baby is still free from diseases, and the patient reports no clinical manifestation 4 years after the hospital discharge.Despite its rapid metastases and complications, gestational choriocarcinoma still can be successfully treated by postpartum chemotherapy with the least delay.

Pituitary metastasis of choriocarcinoma: A case report

Choriocarcinoma is an aggressive obstetric or gynecological neoplasm with a high malignant potential. It is a form of gestational trophoblastic disease and often secondary to hydatidiform mole, and intrauterine or ectopic pregnancy. Choriocarcinoma has a proclivity to metastasize to the lung, vagina, pelvis or liver in over 50% of patients, which always occurs in the early stage of the disease. With an appropriate amount of chemotherapy, the tumor may be treated effectively. However, pituitary metastasis of choriocarcinoma is extremely rare. To the best of our knowledge, no cases of choriocarcinoma metastasizing to the pituitary have been cited previously. Here, we report a case of choriocarcinoma that presented with pituitary metastasis.

Donor transmitted and de novo cancer after liver transplantation

Cancers in solid organ recipients may be classified as donor transmitted, donor derived, de novo or recurrent. The risk of donor-transmitted cancer is very low and can be reduced by careful screening of the donor but cannot be abolished and, in the United Kingdom series is less than 0.03%. For donors with a known history of cancer, the risks will depend on the nature of the cancer, the interventions given and the interval between diagnosis and organ donation. The risks of cancer transmission must be balanced against the risks of death awaiting a new graft and strict adherence to current guidelines may result increased patient death. Organs from selected patients, even with high-grade central nervous system (CNS) malignancy and after a shunt, can, in some circumstances, be considered. Of potential donors with non-CNS cancers, whether organs may be safely used again depends on the nature of the cancer, the treatment and interval. Data are scarce about the most appropriate treatment when donor transmitted cancer is diagnosed: sometimes substitution of agents and reduction of the immunosuppressive load may be adequate and the impact of graft removal should be considered but not always indicated. Liver allograft recipients are at increased risk of some de novo cancers, especially those grafted for alcohol-related liver disease and hepatitis C virus infection. The risk of lymphoproliferative disease and cancers of the skin, upper airway and bowel are increased but not breast. Recipients should be advised to avoid risk behavior and monitored appropriately.

Extended donors in liver transplantation

Several criteria are used to differentiate between standard and extended allograft donors. These criteria include deceased after cardiac death, advanced donor age, steatosis, previous malignancy in the donor, hepatitis C virus-positive allografts, human T-cell lymphotropic virus-positive allografts, active infections in the donor, high-risk donors, split liver transplantations, and living donor liver transplantations. Review of the literature can lead each practitioner to incorporate extended criteria donors into their transplant program, thereby individualizing the use of these allografts, increasing the donor pool, and decreasing overall waitlist mortality.