Diagnosis, Treatment and Outcome of Gestational Trophoblastic Neoplasia in a Low Resource Income Country

BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION: Gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) is a disease of the proliferative trophoblastic allograft. Diagnosis and treatment of GTN in low resource-income countries is challenging due to numerous factors. The objective of this study was to review outcomes of gestational trophoblastic neoplasia in women of low socioeconomic status with limited resources and social support. METHODS: This study was performed at Gynecologic and Obstetric Clinic of Dakar Teaching Hospital, the reference Centre of Gestational trophoblastic diseases in Senegal from 2006 to 2015. RESULTS: Out of 1088 patients followed for gestational trophoblastic disease during the study period, 108 patients were diagnosed and treated for GTN: 88 low-risk and 20 high-risk. Low-risk patients received an average of 6.9 cycles of initial single-agent chemotherapy. Twelve patients had persistent disease and were switched to a second line multi-agent chemotherapy. Finally 94.3% of low-risk patients achieved remission. All high-risk patients were initially treated with multi-agent chemotherapy, averaging 7 cycles. Five of the eighty-eight low-risk patients and twelve of the 20 high-risk patients died of disease. CONCLUSION AND GLOBAL HEALTH IMPLICATIONS: Early adequate treatment ensures an excellent prognosis for patients with GTN. In low-income countries, difficulties encountered in diagnosis and treatments worsen the prognosis of GTN patients. Clinical trials are needed to find out affordable schedules or drugs for a better treatment.