Gestational Trophoblastic Disease

This page contains recent news articles, when available, and an overview of Gestational Trophoblastic Disease but does not offer medical advice. You should contact your physician with regard to any health issues or concerns.

Background information on Gestational Trophoblastic Disease

Gestational trophoblastic disease — usually referred to as a mole — is a very rare abnormality of pregnancy in the reproductive female that involves abnormal trophoblast proliferation. It is the result of a (purely chance) genetic error during the fertilization process that in turn causes the growth of abnormal tissue (which is not an embryo) within the uterus. The growth of this material is disproportionately rapid when compared to normal fetal growth.

The two types of hydatidiform molar pregnancy are complete and partial.

Complete moles are the most common type of moles, and are when the mass of tissue is completely made up of abnormal cells that would have become the placenta in a normal pregnancy. There is no fetus and nothing can be found at the time of the first scan. Complete moles often have a diploid karyotype 46,XX due to fertilization of an empty ovum by a single sperm followed by replication of the haploid chromosome. On ultrasound, a complete mole has a "snow storm pattern", and the uterus is large for dates. Microscopically, there is edema of most villi, which gives the appearance of a large and random collection of grape-like cell clusters.

In a partial mole, the mass may contain both these abnormal cells and often a fetus that has severe defects. In this case, the fetus will be consumed by the growing abnormal mass very quickly. Partial moles have a triploid karyotype (69,XXX or 69,XXY) due to the fertilization of a single egg with two sperm. They also have a lower volume of tissue, and smaller hydropic villi (grape-like), as well as normal villi mixed in with the abnormal. Rarely, partial moles can progress to gestational choriocarcinoma.

News Articles on Gestational Trophoblastic Disease

Problems seen in postnatal period  -  Dec 18, 2007
New Zealand Doctor Online,Histology of the â€œproductsâ€? should be requested to exclude gestational trophoblastic disease. For breast infections, flucloxacillin is indicated early to

Woman's love and inspiration will live on  -  Oct 11, 2007
KC Community News,Danette was featured in The Sun last February, in an article highlighting her optimism and fortitude as she battled gestational trophoblastic disease,

â€˜Iâ€™d lost my dream of a baby and what I saw looked alienâ€™  -  Mar 5, 2007
ic Wales,...anymore children then in some instances a hysterectomy maybe carried out to ensure that the woman does not develop gestational trophoblastic disease.

I'd lost my dream of a baby and what I saw just looked alien  -  Feb 18, 2007
ic Wales,...anymore children then in some instances a hysterectomy maybe carried out to ensure that the woman does not develop gestational trophoblastic disease.

Uterine Arteriovenous Malformations From Diagnosis to Treatment  -  Oct 23, 2006
Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine (subscription)6 â€“ 8 Less commonly, endometrial carcinoma, cervical carcinoma, and gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) have been implicated as causes of acquired ...

Cancer patient, 8, off to Midwest for possible marrow transplant  -  Oct 27, 2006
San Francisco Chronicle,Wetle has been diagnosed with gestational trophoblastic disease, a rare cancer that develops in the uterus immediately after a woman conceives a child. ...

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