Molar pregnancy with a coexisting living fetus: a case series

Coexistence of molar pregnancy with living fetus represents a challenge in diagnosis and treatment. The objective of this study to present the outcome of molar pregnancy with a coexisting living fetus who were managed in our University Hospital in the last 5 years.

We performed a retrospective analysis of patients who presented with molar pregnancy with a coexisting living fetus to our Gestational Trophoblastic Clinic, Mansoura University, Egypt from September, 2015 to August, 2020. Clinical characteristics of the patients, maternal complications as well as fetal outcome were recorded. The patients and their living babies were also followed up at least 6 months after delivery.

Twelve pregnancies were analyzed. The mean maternal age was 26.0 (SD 4.1) years and the median parity was 1.0 (range 0-3). Duration of the pregnancies ranged from 14 to 36 weeks. The median serum hCG was 165,210.0 U/L (range 7662-1,200,000). Three fetuses survived outside the uterus (25%), one of them died after 5 months because of congenital malformations. Histologic diagnosis was available for 10 of 12 cases and revealed complete mole associated with a normal placenta in 6 cases (60%) and partial mole in 4 cases (40%). Maternal complications occurred in 6 cases (50%) with the most common was severe vaginal bleeding in 4 cases (33.3%). There was no significant association between B-hCG levels and maternal complications (P = 0.3).

Maternal and fetal outcomes of molar pregnancy with a living fetus are poor. Counseling the patients for termination of pregnancy may be required.

The study was approved by Institutional Research Board (IRB), Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University (number: R.21.10.1492).