Pathology of trophoblastic diseases

This paper furnishes a synoptic overview of the anatomic pathology of trophoblastic growths, with some reference to clinical implications. I will attempt to provide definitions and generalizations; however, the limitation of this approach is all too familiar. Definitions are constructed to cover the borderline case, but the borderline, as if by definition, escapes. For every generalization there are exceptions, and any pathologist who has assembled a large series of cases of a given disease entity is acutely aware of the exceptions he has encountered. Likewise, classifications are an artifact we superimpose on nature in an attempt to make order from experience and to rationalize it. It can be awkward, if not unfair, to shove the square peg of the biologic case into the round hole of man-made taxonomy.