Advances in diagnostics and management of gestational trophoblastic disease

Abstract

Background: Gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) is a heterogeneous group of rare tumours characterised by abnormal proliferation of trophoblastic tissue. It consists of benign or premalignant conditions, such as complete and partial molar pregnancy and variants of malignant diseases. The malignant tumours specifically are commonly referred to as gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN). They consist of invasive mole, choriocarcinoma, placental-site trophoblastic tumour (PSTT) and epithelioid trophoblastic tumour (ETT).

Conclusions: Patients with GTD are often asymptomatic, although vaginal bleeding is a common presenting symptom. With the advances in ultrasound imaging in early pregnancy, the diagnosis of molar pregnancy is most commonly made in the first trimester of pregnancy. Sometimes, additional imaging such as chest X-ray, CT or MRI can help detect metastatic disease. Most women can be cured, and their reproductive function can be preserved. In this review, we focus on the advances in management strategies for gestational trophoblastic disease as well as possible future research directions.

Keywords: choriocarcinoma; gestational trophoblastic disease; gestational trophoblastic neoplasia; human chorionic gonadotropin; hydatidiform mole; invasive mole; molar pregnancy.