Prevalence and Risk Factors of Choriocarcinoma in Saudi Arabia: A Systematic Review

Choriocarcinoma is an aggressive trophoblastic neoplasm; its origin could be gestational or non-gestational.  Most are gestational, which means they arise from pregnancy, which may be abnormal or normal. This review includes the published literature about choriocarcinoma's prevalence and risk factors. The researchers searched Science Direct, PubMed, EBSCO, Web of Science, Cochrane library, and Scopus. Then they used Rayyan QCRI to screen the study articles by title and abstract and did a full-text assessment. 353 patients who developed the gestational trophoblastic disease were considered in seven studies. Their age ranged from 21 years to 55 years. The decline in prevalence was attributed to the sociomedical improvement in Saudi Arabia. Regarding the case reports, gastrointestinal (GIT) bleeding, including melena and hemoptysis, was recorded in two studies. We concluded that choriocarcinoma manifestations range from silent lesions to symptomatic metastatic conditions. In Saudi Arabia, choriocarcinoma is a very uncommon neoplasm, as the majority of the literature consists of case reports. The reported possible risk factors were lower sociomedical status, multiparous women, abortion, and hypertension.