human chorionic gonadotrophin as an indicator of persistent ges-tational trophoblastic neoplasia

background : gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (gtn) disease is excessive and inappropriate proliferation of trophoblast after termination of the pregnancy. many attempts have been made to improve follow-up procedures, but no studies have evaluated human chorionic gonadotrophin (hcg) as a post treatment indicator. thus we aimed to know β-hcg variability in post treatment pregnancies.   methods: 40 molar affected pregnancies were followed post-surgical treatment by serum β-hcg level in a tertiary level hospital. all subjects were treated by evacuation and followed by β-hcg every week for three weeks, then every month for six months.   results: 30 women were normal (group i) and 10 (group ii) diagnosed as gtn cases. serum β-hcg which obtained serially shown significant differences between two groups (p=0.001). the quantity of β-hcg/week had significantly higher level than normal females ( p< 0.001)   conclusion: our results suggested that β-hcg serum level could be used as a strong indicator for identifying affected patients at early stage.