Case report: Choriocarcinoma (2010)

Record number:

Adverse Occurrence type:

MPHO Type:

Estimated frequency:

Most recent risk assessment for choriocarcinoma (Council of Europe, 2022): Due to the high transmission and mortality rates, it is considered an unacceptable risk for organ donation in any stage of disease. History of choriocarcinoma: Due to the reported high transmission and mortality rates, it is considered to be associated with a high or unacceptable risk for transmission through organ donation, depending on the recurrence-free period prior to donor death.

Time to detection:

1 month

Alerting signals, symptoms, evidence of occurrence:

Increased Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) levels; considered at high risk given knowledge of tumor in donor; however, tumor not seen by scans at that time.

Demonstration of imputability or root cause:

Condition known in the donor. She was a 26-year-old pregnant woman who died from a cerebral hemorrhage initially attributed to a vascular malformation. Post-mortem histological examination demonstrated the presence of a placental choriocarcinoma three weeks after donation. More than one recipient affected from the same donor. Diagnosis based on elevated HCG level and presence of mass lesions in some recipients. No tumor masses seen in kidney-pancreas recipient.

Imputability grade:

2 Probable

Groups audience:

Keywords:

hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin)

vascular malformation

histological examination

placental choriocarcinoma