Sanchez Natalia Gabriela, Horvai Andrew E, Zacco Emanuela, Monga Varun
Pathology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
UCSF-Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Francisco, California, USA.
BMJ Case Rep. 2025 Jan 14;18(1):e261810. doi: 10.1136/bcr-2024-261810.
Secretion of beta human chorionic gonadotropin (β-hCG) is a rare, recently recognised paraneoplastic syndrome. Herein, we present a case of a woman in her 30s with right femur conventional high-grade osteosarcoma and a positive screening urine pregnancy test. Subsequent workup failed to reveal an intrauterine or extrauterine pregnancy. Rather, pathology and gene expression studies confirmed serum β-hCG production by osteosarcoma cells. Though the prognostic implications of β-hCG expression are unclear, β-hCG may be a useful surveillance marker to monitor disease progression or recurrence.