Risk and prognostic factors in trophoblastic neoplasia

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Abstract
Three hundred and seventeen patients with gestational trophoblastic tumors were investigated and treated between 1957–1973. The risk of trophoblastic tumor was influenced by the outcome of the antecedent pregnancy (hydatidiform mole, non-mole abortion, term delivery) and the ABO blood groups of the mating couple; it was also influenced by the patient's age. The response to treatment with chemotherapy and, where appropriate, with surgery and radiotherapy, was influenced profoundly by several factors. These included 1) the outcome of the antecedent pregnancy, 2) the total body burden of tumor at the time treatment started as reflected by the urinary output of human chorionic gonadotrophin (CG), 3) the interval between the antecedent pregnancy and the start of chemotherapy, 4) the ABO groups of the mating couple, 5) the extent of mononuclear cell infiltration in the tumor, 6) the immunological status of the patient at the start of treatment, 7) the size of tumor masses, 8) the site of metastases and particularly the presence of intracranial metastases, and possibly by 9) the age and 10) the parity of the patient. A detailed study of the HLA antigens of the patient, her husband, and antecedent child has shown no positive effect on risk or prognosis. These data provide a basis for a scoring system that allows the prognosis to be defined at the time of diagnosis and facilitates the design of treatment schedules matched to the individual patient's risk of drug resistance. Applied retrospectively to the cases from which the scoring system was generated, prognostic groups with survival rates ranging from 0–100% can be defined. Unfavorable prognostic factors combine so as to increase the probability of drug resistance.

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