Primary choriocarcinoma of the jejunum: report of a case.

We report a case of primary choriocarcinoma of the jejunum in a 45-year-old man, which was finally diagnosed by immunohistochemical analysis of a surgically resected specimen. Despite combined systemic chemotherapy, the patient died of progressive liver metastases 5 months after surgery. The serum human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) level increased dramatically as the liver tumor progressed. According to our review of the 13 cases of primary or secondary choriocarcinoma of the small intestine reported in the English-language literature up until 2001, the characteristic symptoms are massive gastrointestinal bleeding and elevation of the serum HCG. Early diagnosis and prompt initiation of chemotherapy provide the only chance of improving the extremely poor prognosis associated with this rare neoplasm.