Primitive neuroectodermal tumor of the cervix diagnosed during pregnancy: a rare case report with discussion

Abstract

Background Primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) is a relatively rare malignant small round cell tumor, and the occurrence of cervical PNET during pregnancy is extremely rare. Case presentation A case of pregnancy complicated by PNET at our hospital was reported. A 19-year-old pregnant woman presented to the hospital due to multiple instances of vaginal bleeding during the first and second trimesters. She was initially considered for threatened abortion but was ultimately diagnosed with cervical PNET. No standard treatment plan has been developed for pregnant women with this tumor. After completing the necessary examinations, doctors cooperated with the patient and her family to develop a surgical treatment plan. The patient recovered well after surgery, but she refused radiotherapy and chemotherapy. After nearly 3 years of follow-up visits, the patient is alive with no signs of recurrence. Conclusions PNET during pregnancy is a rare but complex condition. It is necessary to devise an individualized treatment plan according to gestational age. Timely surgical treatment can significantly prolong the survival time of patients but may also lead to fetal loss and the inability to carry a pregnancy.

Primary primitive neuroectodermal tumor of the cervix confirmed with molecular analysis in a pregnant woman: A case report and literature review

“…A follow-up of 42 and 33 months, respectively, showed both patients to be alive after initial diagnosis. In addition to the reports of cervical PNET in pregnancy, Feng et al and Al-Nueimy et al also described one case each, found at 14 weeks of pregnancy and during cesarean section at term, respectively ( Al-Nueimy, 2014 ; Feng et al, 2021 ). Both patients presented with cervical masses of 3 cm × 3 cm and 6 cm × 4.5 cm, respectively.…”

A rare radiotherapy-sensitive primitive neuroectodermal tumor with APC gene amplification in an adult: a case report and literature review

“…It is a high-grade malignant tumor with early metastasis and an extremely poor prognosis. PNET can reportedly develop anywhere in the body, including the orbit, nasal cavity, mediastinum, stomach, bone, uterus, kidney, neck, chest, pancreas, gingiva, paraspinal region, ovaries, breast, testes, and thymus; 1 – 4 , 6 – 9 however, it is rarely found in the lung. Only 15 related cases were retrieved from the literature from 2012 to 2022 ( Table 1 ).…”

“…As a member of the Ewing sarcoma family, PNET can be classified into central or peripheral subtypes, both of which can affect organs other than those in the neurological, soft tissue, and skeletal systems in children and adolescents. 1 – 4 The diagnosis of PNET largely depends on pathological and molecular examinations. Given the rarity and extremely poor prognosis of PNET with pulmonary invasiveness, 1 we believe that it is clinically valuable to report the clinical features, treatments, follow-up procedures, histological characteristics, and genomic variants of such cases to expand the knowledge of this disease.…”

Cervical Cancer Associated with Pregnancy: Current Challenges and Future Strategies

“…Few conclusions can be drawn from case reports relating to cervical cancer of rare histology diagnosed during pregnancy. In decreasing frequency order, we retrieved cases about treating neuroendocrine carcinomas [97,113,120,121,[136][137][138][139][140][149][150][151][152][153][154], clear cell carcinomas [134,135,155], and sarcoma [98].…”

“…Most patients diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumors at the first or early second trimester of pregnancy underwent termination of pregnancy [121,136,151,154] to prevent any delay in cancer management. Three out of fifteen patients were diagnosed with stage FIGO 2018 IVB disease and died within months after the diagnosis [137,150,152].…”