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Case Reports
. 2022 Sep 19;10(9):e6322.
doi: 10.1002/ccr3.6322. eCollection 2022 Sep.

Uterine malignant leiomyosarcoma associated with high levels of serum beta-human chorionic gonadotropin: A case report

Elias Tsakos  1 , Emmanouil M Xydias  1   2 , Apostolos C Ziogas  2 , Kanelina Bimpa  1 , Angelos Sioutas  3 , Katerina Zarampouka  4 , Georgios Tampakoudis  5
Affiliations
Case Reports

Uterine malignant leiomyosarcoma associated with high levels of serum beta-human chorionic gonadotropin: A case report

Elias Tsakos et al. Clin Case Rep. .

Abstract

We present the case of a 54-year-old woman diagnosed with uterine leiomyosarcoma that produced beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (β-hCG), evident by both serum and immunohistologic examination. Based on this and similar cases from the available literature, β-hCG-producing sarcomas tend to have poorer prognosis, indicating that β-hCG could potentially be used as a marker of disease status and response to the therapy; however, this association is inconsistent and should be further investigated.

Keywords: HCG‐beta; gynecologic neoplasms; leiomyosarcoma; uterine bleeding; uterine neoplasms.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Intrauterine non‐homogenous mass detected in the MRI scan.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Leiomyosarcoma was shown to be soft and large relative to the total uterine volume, with irregular borders noted to be invading the myometrium (block arrows) with a hemorrhagic center (line arrow). The ruler next to the uterus measures 15 cm.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
High‐grade leiomyosarcoma which invades the myometrium (hematoxylin & eosin, ×100).
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Typical histological characteristics of a high‐grade leiomyosarcoma (hematoxylin & eosin, ×200).
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Immuno‐histochemical study showed cells positive for SMA staining (×200).
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
Immuno‐histochemical study showed positivity for the h‐caldesmon immunostain (×200).
FIGURE 7
FIGURE 7
Focal positivity of numerous neoplastic cells for β‐hCG after immune‐histochemical examination (×200).
FIGURE 8
FIGURE 8
Focal positivity of a few cells for β‐hCG after immune‐histochemical examination (×200).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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