Statistics and outlook for persistent disease and choriocarcinoma

On this page there is quite detailed information about the survival rates of different stages of gestational trophoblastic tumours. We have included it because people ask us for this. But not everyone who is diagnosed with a cancer wants to read this type of information (even though in the case of GTT, it is generally good news). If you are not sure whether you want to know at the moment, you might like to skip this page for now. You can always come back to it.

Unless you are very familiar with medical statistics, you may find it helpful to go to our section about different types of cancer statistics before you read the information below.

Please note - No national statistics are available for different stages of cancer or treatments that people may have had. The statistics we present here are pulled together from a variety of different sources, including the opinions and experience of the experts who check each section of CancerHelp UK. We give statistics because people ask us for them. But they are only intended as a general guide and can't tell you what will happen in your individual case.

Remember - statistics are averages based on large numbers of patients. They cannot predict exactly what will happen to you. No two patients are exactly alike and how well treatment works also varies from one person to another. You should feel free to ask your doctor about your prognosis, but not even your doctor can tell you for sure what will happen.

Doctors often use the terms ‘5 year survival’ or ‘10 year survival’. This does not mean you will only live 5 or 10 years. It relates to the number of people who are alive 5 or 10 years after their diagnosis. Doctors follow what happens to people for at least 5 years after treatment in any research study. This is because there is only a small chance of the cancer coming back more than 5 years after treatment. Doctors do not usually like to say that these people are cured because there is that small chance. So they use the term ‘5 year survival’ instead.

Chemotherapy is highly effective in most people with persistent trophoblastic disease and choriocarcinoma. Women needing chemotherapy for these conditions are divided into two different risk groups. Overall, 98% are cured. Women with low risk disease have a cure rate of 100%. With high risk disease, more than 80 to 90% of women are alive at 5 years.

If the outlook is divided by stage, more than 80% of women with stage 2 or 3 choriocarcinoma live for more than 5 years. In women with stage 4 choriocarcinoma, more than 6 out of 10 (60%) survive for more than 5 years.

Most women can go on to have a normal pregnancy after a molar pregnancy or persistent trophoblastic disease. But if you have had a GTT in the past you have a slightly increased risk of developing another with future pregnancies. If you had a complete mole your chance of another molar pregnancy is around 1 in 100 (1%). Your specialist will want to monitor you closely if you become pregnant again. We have more information about follow up in this section.

Although no statistics can tell you exactly what will happen to you, the statistics for people with GTT are very reliable. This is because all women having chemotherapy are treated in one of two centres. This means that the UK has very accurate figures and can give you a very good guide about how you are likely to respond to treatment. However your illness is unique. For example, the same type of tumour can grow at different rates in different people.