Molar pregnancy
A molar pregnancy is where a foetus doesn't form properly in the womb and a baby doesn't develop. A lump of abnormal cells grows in the womb instead of a healthy foetus.
Symptoms of a molar pregnancy
There are often no signs that a pregnancy is a molar pregnancy.
It may only be spotted during a routine Ultrasound scan at eight to 14 weeks or found during tests carried out after a miscarriage.
Some women with a molar pregnancy have:
- vaginal bleeding or a dark discharge from the vagina in early pregnancy (usually in the first three months) – this may contain small, grape-like lumps
- severe morning sickness
- an unusually swollen tummy
But some of these symptoms are fairly common in pregnancy and aren't necessarily a sign that anything is wrong with your baby.
When to get medical help
Contact your midwife or GP if you have any worrying symptoms, such as vaginal bleeding, while you're pregnant.
They may refer you to an early pregnancy assessment service for an ultrasound scan to rule out any problems with your baby.
If you've had a molar pregnancy before and think you might have another one, you can go to an early pregnancy service directly without contacting your midwife or GP first.
Treatment for a molar pregnancy
If an ultrasound scan shows that you have a molar pregnancy, treatment to remove it will be recommended.
A molar pregnancy can usually be treated with a simple procedure to remove the growth of cells from the womb. But cells are sometimes left over and further treatment is needed to remove them.
Three main treatments can be used.
Suction removal
Suction removal is when the abnormal cells are sucked out using a thin tube passed into your womb through your vagina.
This is usually done under General anaesthetic (where you're asleep).
Medication
If the growth is too large to be sucked out, you may be given medication to make it pass out of your vagina.
Surgery
Surgery to remove the womb hysterectomy may be an option if you don't want to have any more children in the future.
Most women are successfully treated with suction removal and can go home later the same day.
Your consultant will discuss the benefits and risks of the different options with you, to help you decide what is best for you.
Monitoring after treatment for a molar pregnancy
Some abnormal cells may be left in your womb after treatment. These usually go away on their own within a few months, but further treatment may sometimes be needed to remove them.
To see if you might need further treatment, you'll be asked to have regular blood or urine tests. This is to measure the level of the hormone hCG (human chorionic gonadotrophin).
The amount of this hormone in your body increases during pregnancy. If it doesn't go down after treatment for a molar pregnancy, it might mean some abnormal cells are left in your womb.
Most women need to have regular blood or urine tests for around six months after treatment.
Sex, pregnancy and contraception after a molar pregnancy
You can have sex as soon as you feel physically and emotionally ready. If you have any bleeding after your treatment, don't have sex until this stops.
Having a molar pregnancy doesn't affect your chances of getting pregnant again. The risk of having another molar pregnancy is small (about one in 80).
It's best not to try for a baby until your after-treatment monitoring has finished. This is in case you need further treatment to remove any cells left in your womb.
Use Contraception until your doctors say it's safe to get pregnant again. You can use any type except implants that go in the womb, which should only be used once your hCG level has returned to normal.
Further treatment after a molar pregnancy
In a few cases, abnormal cells left in the womb after treatment don't go away on their own. This is called persistent trophoblastic disease and choriocarcinoma
PTD can be serious because the abnormal cells can regrow or spread to other parts of the body, similar to cancer, if it's not treated.
Treatment involves taking medication to kill the abnormal cells Chemotherapy for a few months.
With treatment, almost 100 per cent of women are cured.
You can usually get pregnant after treatment if you wish. But you will be advised not to try for at least a year because there's a chance (about one in 30) PTD could come back during this time.
Cause of molar pregnancies
A molar pregnancy isn't caused by anything you or your partner does.
It happens if there amount of genetic material in a fertilised egg isn't right, for example, if an egg containing no genetic information is fertilised by a sperm, or a normal egg is fertilised by two sperm.
It's unclear why this happens, but the following things can increase the risk:
- age – molar pregnancies are more common in teenage women and women aged over 45
- ethnicity – molar pregnancies are about twice as common in women of Asian origin
- previous molar pregnancy
If you've had a molar pregnancy before, your chance of having another one is about one in 80, compared with one in 600 for women who haven't had one before.
If you've had two or more molar pregnancies, your risk of having another is around one in five.
More information and support
It can take time to recover emotionally from a molar pregnancy.
You may find it helpful to:
- talk to your partner, family or friends about how you feel
- ask your care team what support is available - they may refer you to a counsellor who specialises in support for people affected by molar pregnancy
More useful links
The information on this page has been adapted from original content from the NHS website.
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