Spontaneous Regression of Carcinoma of the Cervix: Report of a Case

Abstract

I wish to report a case with apparent gross trophoblastic lesions in the lungs which persisted over a long period of time and finally regressed and completely disappeared. The chest x-ray diagnosis and a diagnosis of benign mole of the uterus (following uterine curettement) were made at the same time. Repeated x-ray examinations of the chest showed an increase in number and size of the lung lesions for a period of months. The regression of the uterine trophoblastic growth was very prompt. Some evidence of a metastatic lesion in the lung was still present one year after the first diagnosis was made. A recent x-ray of the chest (two years after the first diagnosis) shows no evidence of any of the previous lesions in the lung. At the present time, this patient is clinically well and was delivered of a normal infant on January 9, 1951.

Case Details

Personal Characteristics

61-year-old patient, widow, mother died from natural causes at the age of 90, father died from a cerebrovascular accident when 87 years old, ten siblings, two sisters and one brother were living and well, four brothers died of unknown causes, three others died of cardiac disorders associated with angina, no family history of malignant disease, or of acute or chronic disease suggestive of any epidemiological factors, had twice been pregnant, and had successfully given birth to two children, alive and well, and at the time of admission respectively aged 35 and 40 years

Clinical Characteristics

Vaginal hemorrhage, blood-streaked vaginal discharge, pain in the lower right and also left abdominal quadrants, hard and rocklike cervix, friable, cauliflower-like tumors replacing and projecting from the circumference of the cervix, cervical canal was sloughed out, and wide open, green mass, continuous and presumably a part of the larger pelvic organs and tissues, the uterus, and its adnexa, filled the vaginal vault so that no normal tissue could be seen

Remission Characteristics

Complete regression of the carcinoma, no primary nor secondary growths present, normal mucous membrane had been replaced by scar tissue which obliterated the cervix, no evidence of any erosion, or of any discharge, bloody or otherwise

Treatment & Mechanisms

Proposed Remission Mechanisms

Suggested that there may be a mechanism common to tumor regression, narcotic tolerance, and some allergic phenomena

Clinical Treatment

Standard treatment with eighteen x-ray exposures totaling 4,140 roentgen units, and 3,600 milligram hours of radium, appendectomy, cholecystectomy

Non-Clinical Treatment

Bed rest, morphine for pain control

Additional Notes

The patient reacted anaphylactically to the use of Diodrast. The patient, when informed that the original tumor was no longer present, immediately, completely, and with no signs or symptoms of narcotic withdrawal, needed neither substitute analgesic drugs nor treatment. During the subsequent ten years, no medicines, excepting those needed for each surgical procedure, have been administered or taken.