Clinical Experience of Male Primary Choriocarcinoma at the Samsung Medical Center

Abstract

Purpose The objective of this study was to describe and analyze the clinicopathological features of primary choriocarcinoma (PCC) observed in male patients treated at the Samsung Medical Center between 1996 and 2020. Materials and Methods We reviewed the clinical records of 14 male patients with PCC retrospectively to assess their demographic, histological, and clinical characteristics at the time of diagnosis as well as identify the treatment outcomes. Results The median age of the patients was 33 years. The primary tumor site was the testicles in seven cases (50%), the mediastinum in six cases (43%), and the brain in one case (7%). The most common metastatic site was the lungs (79%), followed by the brain (43%). All patients with PCC received cytotoxic chemotherapy. Twelve patients had records of their response to cytotoxic chemotherapy; of these 12 patients, eight (8/12, 67%) achieved an objective response, and four (4/12, 33%) achieved stable disease response as the best response during chemotherapy. Conclusion It is known that most male PCC patients eventually develop resistance to cytotoxic chemotherapy and die. Factors such as poor response to chemotherapy, high disease burden, brain metastasis, and hemoptysis at the time of diagnosis are associated with shorter survival time in male PCC patients. Programmed death-1/programmed death-ligand 1 blockade therapy can be a salvage treatment for chemotherapy-resistant male PCC patients.