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- • A hydatidiform mole is essentially an abnormal embryo that contains many fluid-filled cysts. There are two
- types of hydatidiform moles, complete and incomplete (partial). The diagnosis of a complete hydatidiform
- mole is usually made during the first half of a pregnancy and is recognized by the health care provider about 50
- percent of the time before the tumor cysts are expelled. A variety of clinical conditions may be confused with
- molar pregnancy, but these can usually be distinguished on the basis of medical history, a physical exam and an
- ultrasound examination.
- In contrast to a complete mole, a partial mole is associated with a fetus. It occurs much less frequently than
- a complete mole. The fetus usually dies within nine weeks after the last menstrual period although occasionally
- it can survive to term. Partial moles are rarely associated with multiple ovarian cysts (thecolutein cysts), high
- HCG titers and other accompaniments of a complete mole. There is also a lower incidence of malignant
- behavior (5 to 10 percent).
- • An invasive mole (chorioadenoma destruens) is defined as a hydatidiform mole that invades the wall of the
- uterine muscle. It develops in 15 to 30 percent of all molar pregnancies.
- • Choriocarcinoma is a very rapidly growing malignancy that tends to spread quickly. About 50 percent of all
- cases of gestational choriocarcinoma follow a hydatidiform mole, 25 percent follow a spontaneous abortion or
- tubal pregnancy and 25 percent follow a normal pregnancy. Choriocarcinoma follows a normal-term pregnancy
- in 1 in 40,000 pregnancies. GTD after a normal pregnancy is always a choriocarcinoma, never a mole or an
- invasive mole.
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