Simultaneous Occurrence of Choriocarcinoma in an Infant and Mother

Abstract

Infantile choriocarcinoma is an extremely rare disease. We present a case study of a 1-month-old male with choriocarcinoma diagnosed simultaneously with his mother. On admission to hospital, the disease was very advanced and massive progression and multi-organ failure caused the death of the patient despite the implemented treatment. It was too late to save the child’s life, but early enough to save his mother. The authors believe that the serum levels of hCG should be determined in every newborn with anemia and liver tumor, especially when the mother has a positive history of miscarriage.

Choriocarcinoma in neonates and infants: A severe but curable disease

“…5,6 Even if N-CC is a very rare tumour, this diagnosis should be evoked when faced with serious, unexplained symptoms occurring in an infant with severe anaemia, or with healthy newborns in the case of maternal placental choriocarcinoma, for whom systematic screening must be performed. 7 The courses before adapting them to overall tolerance. 12,13 Carboplatin serum dosages help to adapt chemotherapy.…”

Cross‐individual cancer transmission to children during the gestational and perinatal periods

“…There have only been about 40 reported cases, including stillbirths. [23][24][25][26]38 In some cases, choriocarcinoma can simultaneously disseminate into both the fetus and the mother. TA B L E 1 Classification of transmission pattern of cancer cells from other people to children during the perinatal period.…”

“…Infantile choriocarcinoma (IC) is an extremely rare pediatric malignancy that occurs as a result of the transmission of gestational choriocarcinoma in the placenta or the mother's body to the fetus. There have only been about 40 reported cases, including stillbirths 23–26,38 . In some cases, choriocarcinoma can simultaneously disseminate into both the fetus and the mother.…”

“…There have only been about 40 reported cases, including stillbirths. 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 38 In some cases, choriocarcinoma can simultaneously disseminate into both the fetus and the mother. According to the systematic review of Mangla et al., 38 22 cases of gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) with concurrent metastasis to mother and child have been reported so far.…”

“… 4 In the latter form of transmission, cancer cells, or precursor cells spread hematogeneously to the body of the fetus. To date, only the following three different etiologies of transplacental cancer transmission have been reported: (1) maternofetal transmission of maternal cancer cells, 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 (2) transmission of gestational choriocarcinoma to the fetus, 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 and (3) the transfer of preleukemic cells from one monozygotic twin to the other (Figure 1 and Table 1 ). 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 Recently, we reported two pediatric cases of lung tumors, in which the lung‐only distribution of tumors and genomic profiling of both the child and mother's tumor samples suggested the transbronchial/airway transmission of maternal cervical cancer to the child through the aspiration of amniotic fluid, secretions, or blood from the cervix during vaginal delivery.…”