Choriocarcinoma masquerading as lumbar spinal tumor: Case report and literature review

Choriocarcinoma is a highly invasive gestational trophoblastic neoplasm, usually metastasis to lung and brain, but occurrence of choriocarcinoma following spontaneous abortion presenting as a vertebral tumor is extremely rare, to the best of our knowledge. Because of the poor diagnosis and high malignancy, the low progression-free survival follows up. PATIENT CONCERNS: We here are reporting a case of choriocarcinoma that presented with vertebral tumor induced paralysis of limbs and incontinence of urine. DIAGNOSIS: Combined with the childbearing history, high β-human chorionic gonadotrophinin levels, and imaging examination, a clinical diagnosis was made exactly. Till the pathological results after the operation of lumbar spinal canal tumorectomy, the diagnosis was exactly clear. INTERVENTIONS: After performing the laminectomy, the fierce bleeding follows up, just did the temporary limited decompression. Because of the vertebral artery embolization, lumbar spinal canal tumorectomy, spinal canal and root canal decompression, subdural decompression and hematoma removal were performed. OUTCOMES: After performing the operation and chemotherapy timely and positively, the patient lost consciousness and died due to the pulmonary embolism at last. LESSONS: This is the first case report describing choriocarcinoma with metastases to the spine amongst Chinese population as well. Early metastasis is one of the marked tendencies of choriocarcinoma, but spine metastasis and the related spinal oppressional symptoms were found instead of vaginal bleeding in this case, which is indeed rare.