The majority of second-trimester partial moles are found in association with triploidy. Rarely are they associated with tetraploidy or other aneuploidies and, to our knowledge, this is the first reported case of the prenatal diagnosis of partial mole in a pregnancy presenting with trisomy. The patient was referred at 21 weeks of gestation after a routine ultrasound examination had shown fetal and placental features suggesting a partial mole triploidy. Owing to the severe structural malformations and poor prognosis, the parents requested termination. Prenatal and postnatal cytogenetic investigations demonstrated an additional chromosome 13. Histopathological examination of the placenta showed focal areas of villous edema but no evidence of trophoblastic dysplasia. The maternal serum human chorionic gonadotropin level was within the normal range at all times. This case shows that trisomy can resemble a triploid partial mole in utero without the potential long-term risk to the mother of persisting trophoblastic disease, as villous molar changes can obviously develop without trophoblastic dysplasia.
Using a modified Feulgen hydrolysis procedure and integrating microdensitometry, the acid-labile nuclear DNA in exfoliated cervical epithelial cells was quantified in a range of histologically confirmed cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), invasive cancer, and normal controls. The mean relative optical densities obtained for each sample group showed an increase from normal epithelium, through CIN grades, to invasive cancer. Although there was some overlap between groups, the difference in the overall mean values between the adjacent groups was statistically significant. The sensitivity of the test was 87.1% with a specificity of 99.2% and a predictive value of 99.5%, with no false negatives in the severe dysplasia and cancer groups. Quantitative data allows the threshold value to be altered to vary the sensitivity and specificity according to prevailing requirements. This suggests the possibility of using quantitative acid-labile DNA measurements to improve existing screening for cervical precancer. Cancer 67:3104-3109,1991. HE TRADITIONAL PAPANICOLAOU method of Cyto
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