Clinical presentation of hydatidiform mole in northern Italy: has it changed in the last 20 years?
OBJECTIVE
This study was undertaken to evaluate whether the current clinical presentation of hydatidiform mole changed in the recent years compared with an historic group.


METHODS
We retrieved 500 patients from our database. We compared the clinical presentation of 189 cases followed-up between 1992-2004 ("later" group) with that of a previous series of 311 patients ("earlier" group, 1970-1982). A Pearson chi2 test was performed analyzing the following variables: uterine volume, ovarian cysts, vaginal bleeding, hyperemesis, preeclampsia, and maternal age; we considered P < .05 to be significant.


RESULTS
Uterine volume corrected for gestational age (P < .0001), vaginal bleeding (P < .0001) and presence of ovarian cysts (P = .03) were significantly predominant in the "earlier" group, whereas the incidence of preeclampsia and hyperemesis were not significantly different.


CONCLUSIONS
The depiction of increased uterine volume, ovarian theca lutein cysts, and vaginal bleeding in hydatidiform mole at presentation is significantly less frequent since the extensive dissemination of ultrasound in obstetrics.
Mangili
Giorgia
G
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy.
Garavaglia
Elisabetta
E
Cavoretto
Paolo
P
Gentile
Cinzia
C
Scarfone
Giovanna
G
Rabaiotti
Emanuela
E
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D006828:Hydatidiform Mole / Q000175:diagnosis*; D007558:Italy; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors