Gestational choriocarcinoma of Fallopian tube diagnosed with a combination of p57^KIP2 immunostaining and short tandem repeat analysis: Case report

Abstract

Tubal choriocarcinoma is an extremely rare condition and can be of gestational or non-gestational origin. The appropriate management of choriocarcinoma begins with the categorization of the tumor. However, it is difficult to discriminate the two types by routine histological examination. We report the first case of gestational choriocarcinoma of the Fallopian tube to be confirmed by a combination of p57(KIP2) immunostaining and DNA polymorphism analysis at 15 short tandem repeat loci, along with X and Y chromosome markers. The patient had no detectable metastasis or evidence of recurrence 15 months after treatment, which involved surgery without adjuvant chemotherapy. This case demonstrates the usefulness of a combination of p57(KIP2) immunostaining and DNA polymorphism analysis in determining the origin of extrauterine choriocarcinoma (i.e. gestational or non-gestational), which helps to determine the strategy for treatment of the disease.