Diletta Favero, Christoph Oing, Christoph Seidel, Pasquale Rescigno, Fabio Catalano, Malvina Cremante, Sara Elena Rebuzzi, Federico Gatto, Giovanni Rosti, Diego Ferone, Giuseppe Fornarini, Francesco Cocchiara
BACKGROUND: Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG)-induced hyperthyroidism is a rare paraneoplastic syndrome observed in non-seminomatous testicular germ cell tumors, due to a cross-reaction between the β-subunit of hCG with the thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor. The precise prevalence of this paraneoplastic phenomenon is unclear as, in the majority of cases, hyperthyroidism remains subclinical. CASE PRESENTATION: Here, we present two cases of advanced metastatic non-seminomatous testicular germ cell tumors where patients exhibited signs and symptoms of thyrotoxicosis at primary diagnosis due to excessive serum β-hCG elevation, with complete remission of symptomatology after the start of oncological treatments and no signs of relapse at the time of publication of this report...
2024: Frontiers in Oncology