Ultrasound appearance of a developing mole.
A 40-year-old primigravida at her 9th week of pregnancy presented with uterine bleeding and an ultrasound picture of a non-embryonic pregnancy with an empty gestational sac but a thickened base of high echogenicity. A week later this thickened area showed a placenta-like disc with a picture of early molar change. At ultrasound follow-up, this progressed to a full hydatidiform mole filling the whole of the uterine cavity; the empty gestational sac had disappeared. The molar pregnancy was confirmed histologically following suction evacuation of the uterus. Early ultrasound diagnosis of a non-embryonic pregnancy or a blighted ovum may not rule out the presence of abnormal trophoblast associated with hydatidiform mole. Failed early pregnancies should be evacuated immediately once diagnosed.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Abha Branch College of Medicine, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia.
Z M
ZM
Zaki
A M
AM
Bahar
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006828:Hydatidiform Mole / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D011247:Pregnancy; D014463:Ultrasonography; D014592:Uterine Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology*; D014594:Uterine Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology