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Initial Management of High-risk Gestational Trophoblastic Neoplasia

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  • 8/16/2019 Initial Management of High-risk Gestational Trophoblastic Neoplasia

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    Official reprint from UpToDatewww.uptodate.com  ©2015 UpToDate

    Authors

    Ross S Berkowitz, MDDonald Peter Goldstein,

    MD

    Neil S Horowitz, MD

    Section Editor 

    Barbara Goff, MD

    Deputy Editors

    Don S Dizon, MD, FACPSandy J Falk, MD, FACOG

    Initial management of high-risk gestational trophoblastic neoplasia

     All topics are updated as new evidence becomes available and our peer review process   is complete.

    Literature review cur rent through: Jan 2015. | This topic last updated: Jan 06, 2015.

    INTRODUCTION  — Gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) defines a group of conditions that arise from an

    aberrant fertilization event. When GTD recurs or there is evidence of metastatic disease, it is called gestational

    trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) and comprises four subtypes of disease:

    The initial treatment of high-risk GTN is discussed here. The pathol ogy, epidemiology, clinical manifestations,

    and staging of GTD are discussed separ   ately. In addition, the management of low-risk and recurrent GTN are

    also discuss ed separately.

    DEFINITION OF HIGH-RISK DISEASE  — High-risk gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) is characterized

    by the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage and the World Health Organization

    (WHO) risk score (table 1) (see "Gestational trophoblastic neoplasia: Epidemiology, clinical features, diagnosis,

    staging, and risk stratification", section on 'Staging and risk assessment'):

    Of note, the WHO Prognostic Scoring System is not applicable to patients with placental site trophoblastic

    tumor (PSTT) or epithel ioid trophoblastic tumor (ETT), and those  patients are not categorized as either low risk

    or high risk . They are, however, st aged based on the FIGO Stage. The management of these patients is

    discussed below. (See 'Placental site or epithelioid trophoblastic tumor'  below.)

    APPROACH TO TREATMENT  — Gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) is uniquely sensitive to

    chemotherapy, which is the major    treatment modality for patients with high-risk disease. The exception to this

    is women with placental site trophoblastic tumor (PSTT) or epithelioid trophoblastic tumor (ETT), in which case,

    the primary treatment may be a combination of surgery and chemotherapy, primarily because PSTT and ETT

    are relatively resistant to chemotherapy as compared with choriocarcinoma and invasive mole. Regardless, in

    the treatment of high-risk GTN, other modalities such as surgery and radiation therapy (RT) may be indicated in

    addition to chemotherapy.

    For patients in whom combination chemotherapy is indicated, treatment may result in ovarian insufficiency.

    Therefore, we advocate for the use of oral contraceptives to suppress the pituitary glands' production of     

    luteinizing hormone which aims to protect the ovaries from the toxicity of chemotherapy and also suppress the

    production of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), which in our clinical experience, could falsely suggest the

    ®

    ®

    Invasive mole●

    Choriocarcinoma●

    Placental site  trophoblastic tumor (PSTT)●

    Epithelioid trophoblastic tumor (ETT)●

    (See "Hydatidiform mole: Epidemiology, clinical features, and  diagnosis".)●

    (See "Gestational trophoblastic disease: Pathology" .)●

    (See "Hydatidiform mole: Management" .)●

    (See "Initial management of low-risk gestational trophoblastic neoplasia" .)●

    Stage IV disease●

    Stages II and III with risk score >6●

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    presence of active disease if not suppressed [ 1]. (See "Fertility preservation in patients undergoing gonadotoxic

    treatment or gonadal resection", section on 'Gonadal suppression'   and"Hydatidiform mole: Management",

    section on 'Contraception'.)

    Chemotherapy  — Patients with high-risk GTN are likely to develop drug resistance if single-agent therapy is

    administered. Therefore, these patients are commonly treated with multi-agent regimens. Evidence of the

    greater likelihood of resistance to single-agent chemotherapy comes from a retrospective study that included

    over 300 patients treated for nonmetastatic GTN [ 2]. Although all patients were cured, 27 of 253 patients (11

    percent) initially treated with methotrexate  (MTX) developed resistance. In this series, only six patientsexperienced a relapse after obtaining a remission; of these, five patients had a choriocarcinoma.

    Our preferred regimen for these patients is etoposide, MTX, plus actinomycin D (ActD) alternating with

    cyclophosphamide   andvincristine  (EMA-CO) because it results in complete response rates between 71 and 78

    percent and long-term survival rates of 85 to 94 percent [ 3-11]. However, a 2012 Cochrane review has found that

    regimens that incorporate etoposide and cisplatin  are effective options, though the lack of randomized trials

    prevented an analysis to define the optimal regimen [ 12].

    EMA-CO  — EMA-CO has emerged as the regimen of choice for initial treatment of high-risk GTN. This is

    predominantly based on retrospective data that consistently show it is active in high-risk GTN and is associated

    with a low toxicity profile [ 12,13].

    The components of this regimen are [ 11]:

     Although EMA-CO is the most widely used regimen, there have been no randomized trials to demonstrate that it

    should be the preferred regimen. However, compared with other combination regimens, it appears to be as

    effective (if not more so) and better tolerated.

    This was shown in one report that included over 200 women with high-risk GTN treated with [ 13]:

    Of these four regimens, EMA-CO resulted in [ 13]:

    In a 2012 systematic review, the administration of EMA-CO was associated with primary remission rates

    ranging from 54 to 91 percent of patients [ 12]. These data support the use of EMA-CO as a primary treatment

    for high-risk GTN.

    Administration  — Treatment with EMA-CO should be administered every two to three weeks. Although a

    treatment delay or dose reduction may be required due to side effects, these should be avoided as both have

    Etoposide  – 100 mg/m IV over 30 minutes on days 1 and 2●   2

    MTX – 100 mg/m IV bolus followed by 200 mg/m IV over 12 hours on day 1●   2 2

     ActD – 0.5 mg IV bolus on days 1 and 2●

    Leucovorin  calcium – 15 mg orally every 12 hours for four doses, starting 24 hours after start of MTX●

    Cyclophosphamide  – 600 mg/m IV on day 8●   2

    Vincristine  – 1.0 mg/m IV on day 8●   2

    MTX plus ActD and folinic acid (MA, administered between 1971 and 1995)●

    MTX, ActD, cyclophosphamide , doxorubicin, melphalan, hydroxyurea, and vincristine   (CHAMOCA,

    administered between 1982 and 1995)

    MTX, ActD, and chlorambucil   (MAC, administered between 1971 and 1982)●

    EMA-CO (administered between 1985 and 1995)●

    The highest remission rate (91 percent) compared with MA, CHAMOCA, and MAC (63, 76, and 68

    percent, respectively) and required the fewest number of courses to attain remission

    The lowest mortality rate (9 percent versus 37, 22, and 33 percent, respectively)●

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    been associated with less than optimal outcomes.

    Treatment should be continued until the hCG level becomes undetectable and remains undetectable for three

    consecutive weeks. Finally, we administer at least three courses of EMA-CO after the patient achieves

    undetectable hCG levels as consolidation therapy to reduce the risk of relapse, which is supported by the

    limited data. (See "Initial management of low-risk gestational trophoblastic neoplasia", section on 'Consolidation

    therapy'.)

    The Charing Cross Group has reported the use of induction low-dose etoposide  (100 mg/m ) andcisplatin  (20

    mg/m ) on days 1 and 2 every seven days in selec ted patients with high tumor burden. This has almost

    completely eliminated early mortality from respiratory compromise and hemorrhage. They also report a 94

    percent remission rate with EMA-CO by carefully excluding non-gestational tumors using genetic analysis [ 14].

    Patients with brain metastases  — For patients with brain metastases, a neurosurgical consult should be

    obtained prior to treatment. These patients are at risk for complications directly related to their brain metastases

    or as a consequence of treatment, which may require urgent or emergent treatment (eg, craniotomy for   

    intracerebral bleeding). For these patients, we administer a modification of systemic EMA-CO that uses a

    higher MTX dose (1000 mg/m over 24 hours) than what is routinely adminis tered [15]. The higher dose of     

    parenteral MTX allows for adequate levels of MTX within the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) [ 15-18]. In addition, these

    patients should receive dexamethasone  to decreasecerebral edema; however, prophylactic anti-epileptic drugsare generally not recommended in most patients, provided there is no history of an antecedent seizure. (See

    "Seizures in patients with primary and metastatic brain tumors" .)

     A typical regimen is as follows [ 18]:

    Finally, these patients should be closely followed during treatment, which can be done using serial imaging.

    Role for intrathecal therapy  — The need for intrathecal (IT) therapy in these patients is controversial

    [ 16,18-20], and its use alongside high-dose EMA-CO is based on institutional preferences. If administered, MTX

    is given as a 12.5 mg dose IT on day 8, followed by leucovorin  calcium 15 mg at 24 and 36 hours. However, one

    small study that included 15 patients treated with EMA-CO plus IT MTX reported that 87 percent (13 patients)

    achieved a sustained remission without the use of whole-brain irradiation [ 18].

    Concomitant whole-brain radiation therapy  — At the New England Trophoblastic Disease Center   

    (NETDC), we administer cranial RT (20 to 30 Gy in 2 Gy daily fractions) concurrently with high-dose MTX

    chemotherapy. As with the role of IT MTX, the role of cranial RT is also controversial. In addition to shrinking the

    brain metastases, concomitant cranial irradiation increases the MTX concentration within the central nervous

    system (CNS) [ 21] and reduces the risk of cerebral hemorrhage prior to eradication of tumor, and may improve

    survival [ 22,23]. However, the use of concurrent MTX and cranial irradiation also increased the likelihood of     

    treatment-related toxicity, especially leukoencephalopathy. (See "Delayed complications of cranial irradiation",

    section on 'Neurocognitive effects'.)

    Cisplatin-containing regimens  — In some centers, a modified EMA-CO regimen that incorporatescisplatin  is preferentially administered to patients with a risk score >12. The most commonly used combination

    replaces vincristine  andcyclophosphamide   (used in EMA-CO) withetoposide  and cisplatin on day 8 (EMA-EP).

    EMA-EP alone or in combination with surgery induced complete remission in 16 (76 percent) of 21 patients with

    EMA-CO resistance [ 5].

     

    2

    2

    2

    Etoposide  – 100 mg/m IV over 60 minutes on days 1 and 2●   2

    MTX – 1000 mg/m IV over 24 hours on day 1●   2

     ActD – 0.5 mg IV bolus on days 1 and 2●

    Leucovorin  calcium – 30 mg intramuscular (IM) or orally every 12 hours for three days, starting 32 hours

    after treatment with MTX

    Cyclophosphamide  – 600 mg/m IV on day 8●   2

    Vincristine  – 1.0 mg/m IV on day 8●   2

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    While no randomized trials compared EMA-CO with cisplatin-containing regimens, a retrospective study

    evaluated outcomes among 83 patients treated with cisplatin-containing treatment and 103 patients treated with

    EMA-CO [ 24]. Compared with EMA-CO, incorporation of cisplatin was associated with:

    APE  — Given the activity ofcisplatin  for GTN, one group reported their experience using ActD, cisplatin, and

    etoposide  (APE) for high-risk GTN that included 59 patients (out of a total of 96) who were treated with this

    regimen as initial therapy between 1985 and 2013 [ 25]. Patients with brain metastases or placental site

    trophoblastic tumors (PSTT) were excluded from treatment. The overall remission rate for these patients was 95

    percent. One patient required treatment discontinuation after four cycles due to grade 2 ototoxicity. The final two

    had refractory disease to this regimen, but all three entered remission with second-line EMA-CO therapy. The

    five-year disease-free survival rate was 98 percent.

    Surgery  — Approximately 50 percent of patients with high-risk, metastatic GTN will require adjuvant surgery to

    achieve cure, even in the presence of multi-organ involvement [ 26-39]. As an example, in one study of 50

    patients with high-risk, metastatic GTN treated with EMA-CO between 1986 and 2005, among 24 patients whounderwent a total of 28 surgical procedures, the cure rate was 87.5 percent. These procedures included

    hysterectomy, pulmonary resection, uterine wedge resection, small bowel resection, and selective uterine artery

    embolization [ 33]. Surgery is generally performed to resect foci of chemotherapy-resistant disease or to control

    complications such as bleeding or infection.

    PLACENTAL SITE OR EPITHELIOID TROPHOBLASTIC TUMOR  — Although universally accepted guidelines

    are not available, patients with placental site trophoblastic tumor (PSTT) or epithelioid trophoblastic tumor (ETT)

    should be treated with a combination of surgery and chemotherapy. Multi-agent regimens are usually

    administered, including etoposide, methotrexate   (MTX), plus actinomycin D (ActD) alternating with

    cyclophosphamide   andvincristine  (EMA-CO) [40] or EMA plus etoposide and cisplatin  (EMA-EP) [41]. There

    are no prospective data to inform whether one or the other is the preferred regimen. (See "Management of     resistant or recurrent gestational trophoblastic neoplasia", section on 'High-risk gestational trophoblastic

    neoplasia'.)

    Unfortunately, patients with metastatic disease have a poor prognosis and a high fatality rate [ 42-44]. In a 2012

    review of the literature that reported on the deaths from gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN), 30 percent

    had placental site trophoblastic tumors (PSTT) [ 44]. In addition, one single-institution series of 18 patients with

    PSTT reported that five of six who had extrauterine disease ultimately died despite the administration of multi-

    agent chemotherapy [ 43]. Survival with PSTT is strongly related to the number of years since the antecedent

    pregnancy. Papadopoulos et al, reporting on 34 patients, found that while all 27 patients diagnosed within four   

    years of the antecedent pregnancy survived, all seven patients died when the antecedent pregnancy was more

    than four years [ 42].

    MONITORING DURING TREATMENT  — As with women who are treated for low-risk gestational trophoblastic

    neoplasia (GTN), all women with high-risk GTN should be monitored with serial measurements of serum human

    chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) at the start of treatment and then at weekly intervals during therapy. This and

    other considerations for patients during treatment are discussed separately. (See "Initial management of low-

    risk gestational trophoblastic neoplasia", section on 'Monitoring during treatment'.)

    The approximate biologic half-life of hCG is 1.5 to 3 days, and serum levels should fall exponentially (by at least

    one log within 18 days). A slower rate of decline suggests the possibility of chemoresistance, although there is

    no consensus or clear guideline as to the optimal cutoff for determining chemoresistance or the management of     

    patients with a slower than expected tumor marker decline [ 45-47].

    Definition of remission  — Remission is achieved when the quantitative hCG level becomes undetectable for   

    three consecutive weeks. Given the sensitivity of this tumor marker, no imaging is required if levels are

    consistent with remission because abnormalities on imaging can persist despite the attainment of undetectable

     A slightly lower remission rate (85 versus 92 percent, respectively)●

     A lower number of cycles to achieve a normal hCG level (three versus five courses)●

    More toxicity, including fever, nephropathy, nausea, and diarrhea●

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    hCG levels, representing fibrosis rather than active tumor.

    Persistent or progressive disease  — The French Trophoblastic Disease Reference Center in Lyon defines

    chemotherapy resistance as an increase or a plateau in two consecutive hCG values over a two-week interval

    [ 48]. As described above, other generally accepted criteria include detection of new metastases [ 49]. For   

    patients who appear to have persistent disease, surgery may be a curative option. The approach to patients who

    experience disease progression is discussed separately. (See "Gestational trophoblastic neoplasia:

    Epidemiology, clinical features, diagnosis, staging, and risk stratification" .)

    PROGNOSIS  — The overall cure rate for patients with high-risk gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) (stage

    II to III) ranges between 95 and 100 percent [ 50]. At the New England Trophoblastic Disease Center (NETDC),

    we treated 90 patients between July 1965 and December 2013, of whom 77.8 percent had a sustained complete

    remission with primary chemotherapy (table 2). As depicted in the table, of those who developed resistance,

    second-line therapy ultimately resulted in sustained remission in 85 percent of patients. Overall, 87 (96.7

    percent) of 90 patients with high-risk stage II and III GTN achieved complete remission.

    For patients with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage IV high-risk GTN, the

    prognosis is not as good, though complete remission can be expected in 60 to 70 percent of patients [ 50].

    Much of this success is due to the use of combination chemotherapy. After combination chemotherapy was

    introduced as primary treatment in this group, the survival rate dramatically improved. Since the introduction of     

    intensive primary combination chemotherapy with adjunctive surgery and radiation therapy (RT), survival at the

    NETDC increased from 30 to 84 percent ( table 3) [ 26].

    Prognostic factors  — For patients with high-risk GTN, long-term survival appeared to be associated with

    variables related to disease extent [ 51]:

    Data from the Charing Cross Hospital indicate that survival with hepatic metastases appears to have improvedover time. Excluding early deaths (within four weeks of presentation) and two deaths unrelated to GTN, the

    cause-specific survival in 25 patients was 68 percent [ 52,53].

    POSTTREATMENT SURVEILLANCE  — After remission is achieved, serum human chorionic gonadotropin

    (hCG) should be measured monthly until there have been undetectable hCG levels for 12 months [ 54,55].

    The follow-up of patients treated for high-risk gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) is similar to that of     

    women treated for low-risk GTN and includes considerations of contraception and the timing of subsequent

    pregnancies. These issues are discussed separately. (See "Initial management of low-risk gestational

    trophoblastic neoplasia", section on 'Posttreatment surveillance'  and"Initial management of low-risk gestational

    trophoblastic neoplasia", section on 'Fertility and pregnancy' .)

    Uterine arteriovenous malformation  — Patients treated for GTN that invaded the myometrium (both low-risk

    and high-risk) are at risk of developing a uterine artery malformation (also known as an arteriovenous fistula),

    which can persist for months or years after remission is achieved. A fistula may remain asymptomatic and

    undiagnosed or may present with menorrhagia. The presence of an arteriovenous malformation has also been

    associated with recurrent miscarriage. (See "Differential diagnosis of genital tract bleeding in women", section

    on 'Arteriovenous malformation'.)

    The diagnosis is made with the use of color Doppler transabdominal or endovaginal ultrasonography.  Selective

    pelvic arteriography clearly identifies the abnormal vascular malformation and helps in evaluating possible

    treatment modalities. If symptomatic, treatment consists of hysterectomy or, when preservation of reproductive

    function is desired, treatment consists of selective uterine artery embolization [ 56-58].

    DIAGNOSIS OF RECURRENT OR RESISTANT DISEASE  — Patients whose human chorionic gonadotropin

    (hCG) level re-elevates after becoming undetectable for three consecutive weeks are considered to have

    recurrent  disease. In contrast, patients whose hCG level remains elevated despite treatment are considered to

    In the presence of liver metastases, only 27 percent were alive●

    If brain metastases were present, the survival rate was 70 percent●

    If both were present, only 10 percent were alive●

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    have resistant  disease. Despite the success of combination chemotherapy, patients treated for high-risk

    gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) have an 8 to 10 percent risk of recurrence, dependent on stage and

    risk score [ 59]. This is often detected by a re-elevation in the quantitative serum hCG levels after three

    consecutive weeks of undetectable quantitative hCG levels. The approach to patients with recurrent or resistant

    disease is discussed separately. (See "Gestational trophoblastic neoplasia: Epidemiology, clinical features,

    diagnosis, staging, and risk stratification" .)

    SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS

    Use of UpToDate is subject to the Subscription and License Agreement .

    REFERENCES

    Gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) is characterized by the International Federation of Gynecology

    and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage and the World Health Organization (WHO) risk score (table 1). Patients are

    defined as having high-risk GTN if they have stage IV disease or stage II to III disease with a risk score >6.

    (See 'Definition of high-risk disease'  above.)

    The WHO Prognostic Scoring System is not applicable to patients with placental site trophoblastic tumor   

    (PSTT) or epithelioid trophoblastic tumor (ETT). Therefore, patients with these subtypes of GTN are not

    categorized as either low risk or high risk. They should be characterized by their FIGO Stage. (See

    'Definition of high-risk disease'  above.)

    GTN is uniquely sensitive to chemotherapy, which is the major treatment modality for patients with high-

    risk disease. The exception to this is women with PSTT or ETT, in which case, the primary treatment maybe a combination of surgery and chemotherapy, primarily because PSTT and ETT are relatively resistant to

    chemotherapy as compared with choriocarcinoma and invasive mole. (See 'Approach to treatment'  above.)

    For patients with high-risk GTN, we recommend multi-agent chemotherapy rather than single-agent

    therapy (Grade 1B). We suggest a combination of etoposide, methotrexate   (MTX), plus actinomycin D

    (ActD) alternating with cyclophosphamide   andvincristine  (EMA-CO) (Grade 2C). (See 'EMA-CO'  above.)

    For patients with high-risk GTN and brain metastases, a neurosurgical consult should be obtained prior to

    treatment. We suggest EMA-CO as the primary systemic treatment, using a higher MTX dose (1000

    mg/m over 24 hours) than what is routinely adminis tered otherwise (Grade 2C). We also suggest cranial

    radiation therapy (RT) for these patients (Grade 2C). However, for patients who do not wish to proceedwith cranial RT, we suggest additional chemotherapy using intrathecal MTX (Grade 2C). (See 'Patients

    with brain metastases'  above.)

    2

     Approximately 50 percent of patients with high-risk, metastatic GTN will require adjuvant surgery to

    achieve cure, even in the presence of multi-organ involvement. (See 'Surgery'  above.)

     Although universally accepted guidelines are not available, for patients with PSTT or ETT, we suggest a

    combination of surgery and chemotherapy (Grade 2C). Multi-agent regimens are usually administered,

    including EMA-CO or EMA plus etoposide  andcisplatin  (EMA-EP). There are no prospective data to

    inform whether one or the other is the preferred regimen, and a choice between them is based on

    institutional preferences. (See 'Placental site or epithelioid trophoblastic tumor'  above.)

     As with women who are treated for low-risk GTN, all women with high-risk GTN should be monitored with

    serial measurements of serum human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) at the start of treatment and then at

    weekly intervals during therapy. (See 'Monitoring during treatment'  above.)

    The overall cure rate for patients with high-risk GTN (stage II to III) ranges between 95 and 100 percent.

    The extent of disease is a prognostic factor among these patients. (See 'Prognosis'  above.)

     After remission is achieved, serum hCG should be measured monthly until monitoring has shown one year  

    of normal hCG levels. (See 'Posttreatment surveillance'  above.)

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    Topic 96232 Version 1.0

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    GRAPHICS

    FIGO Staging of Gestational Trophoblastic Neoplasia (GTN) and

    modified WHO Prognostic Scoring System as adapted by FIGO

    Stage

    I

    Disease confined to the

    uterus

    Stage

    II

    GTN extends outside of 

    the uterus, but is limited

    to the genital structures

    Stage

    III

    GTN extends to the lungs,

    with

    or

    without genital tract

    involvement

    StageIV

    All other metastatic sites

    The stage should be followed

    by the sum of the risk factors

    (eg, III:5)

    Risk factorScore

    0 1 2 4

    Age (years) 12

    Pretreatment

    serum hCG

    (mIU/mL)

    10

    Largest tumor

    (including

    uterus)

    8

    Prior failed

    chemotherapy

    – – Single

    drug

    ≥2

    drugs

    FIGO: International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics; WHO: World Health Organization;

    hCG: human chorionic gonadotropin.

     * Interval (in months) between end of antecedent pregnancy and start of chemotherapy.

    Original figure modified for this publication. Berkowitz RS, Goldstein DP. Current management of 

    gestational trophoblastic diseases. Gynecol Oncol 2009; 112:654. Table used with the permission of 

    Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

    Graphic 98185 Version 2.0

    3 3

    4

    4

    5

    5

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    Results of chemotherapy in 90 patients with high-risk stage II and

    III gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) (New England

    Trophoblastic Disease Center, July 1965 to December 2013)

    Stage Treatment  Number of 

    patients  Remissions (%)

    II 16 16 (100)

    Primary 11 11 (68.9)

    Second-line 5 5 (31.1)

    III 74 71 (95.9)

    Primary 59 59 (79.7)

    Second-line 15 12 (16.3)

    Total 90 87 (96.7)

    Primary 70 70 (77.8)

    Second-line 20 17 (18.9)

    Graphic 98248 Version 1.0

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    Results of chemotherapy in 39 patients with stage IV gestational

    trophoblastic neoplasia (New England Trophoblastic Disease Center,

    July 1965 to December 2013)

    Time period  Total number of 

    patients  Remissions (%)

    1965 to 1975 20 6 (30)

    1976 to 2013 19 16 (84)

    Graphic 98252 Version 1.0

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    Disclosures: Ross S Ber kow itz, MD Nothing to disclose. Donald Peter Goldstein, MD Nothing todis c los e. Neil S Horowitz, MD Nothing to disclose. Barbara Goff, MD Nothing to disclose. Don S

    Dizon, MD, FACP Employee of UpToDate, Inc. Sandy J Falk, MD, FACOG Employee of UpToDate, Inc.

    Cont ribut or dis c los ures are rev iew ed f or c onf lic t s of int eres t by t he edit orial group. When f ound, t hes e

    are addres s ed by v et t ing t hrough a mult i-lev el rev iew proc es s , and t hrough requirement s f or   

    ref erenc es t o be prov ided t o s upport t he c ont ent . Appropriat ely ref erenc ed c ont ent is required of allaut hors and mus t c onf orm t o UpToDat e s t andards of ev idenc e.

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