# Prognostic markers and long-term outcome of placental-site trophoblastic tumours: a retrospective observational study

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-schmid-placental-site-trophoblastic-tumour-outcomes-lancet-2009/  
OnCo record `paper-schmid-placental-site-trophoblastic-tumour-outcomes-lancet-2009` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

The largest series of this rare trophoblastic tumour showed that women whose tumour appeared four or more years after the causative pregnancy did badly whatever the treatment, and that early-stage disease is cured by hysterectomy alone.

## Summary

Retrospective study of 62 women with placental-site trophoblastic tumour treated in the UK trophoblastic disease centres from 1976 to 2006.

Ten-year overall survival was about 70 percent; stage I disease was cured by hysterectomy without chemotherapy, stage II to IV disease required platinum-based chemotherapy (EP/EMA), and an interval of 48 months or more since the antecedent pregnancy was the strongest adverse prognostic factor, with almost no long-term survivors in that group.

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-09-18
- Journal: The Lancet
- Year: 2009
- DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60618-8
- Authors: Schmid P, Nagai Y, Agarwal R, et al.
- Findings: Ten-year overall survival about 70 percent; hysterectomy alone cured stage I disease.; Interval of 48 months or more from the antecedent pregnancy predicted death from disease regardless of treatment.
- What it means: Placental-site trophoblastic tumour is managed by hysterectomy for early disease and platinum chemotherapy for advanced disease, and the interval since pregnancy identifies women who need intensified or experimental treatment.
- Caveats: Retrospective series over thirty years with changing treatments.; Numbers in the poor-prognosis group were small.

## Sources

- Lancet 2009: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60618-8
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19552948/

## Connected records

- cancers: [Placental-site trophoblastic tumour and epithelioid trophoblastic tumour](https://onco.cc/cancers/placental-site-trophoblastic-tumour/)
- drugs: [Cisplatin](https://onco.cc/drugs/cisplatin/), [Etoposide](https://onco.cc/drugs/etoposide/)
- journals: [The Lancet](https://onco.cc/journals/lancet/)

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