You thought you were pregnant and was very excited to have a baby, but you found out it was not a fetus inside you but an abnormal growth referred to as H-Mole.
H-Mole or Hydatidiform mole is a rare condition where the union of the sperm cell and egg cell results to an abnormal growth. So when you experience passing out a grapefruit like, water filled structure, chances are you do not have a baby inside you.
Other common manifestations are very high levels of HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin), painless vaginal bleeding on the 4th or 5th month of pregnancy.
Once detected, H-Mole is removed through dilatation and curettage, but if discovered later induction by oxytocin may be done to expel the abnormal growth.
Studies show that a high 80% of H-Mole cases are benign and need not be a cause of worry. The only thing to remember is not to get pregnant within one year.
In 10 to 15% H-Mole cases, they develop into persistent thromboplastic disease (PTD), where the moles invade deeper into the uterus.
And in only 2 to 3% of cases, women develop malignant cases of choriocarcinoma, a rapid growing, invasive and metastatic form of cancer. But, do not lose heart because despite these factors, a successful treatment and management will result to a very high recovery rate.
Women with choriocarcinoma are given methotrexate, a chemotherapy drug and are able to survive the cancer; in fact some of them retained their ability to bear children.
In women who have the metastatic characteristics of the cancer cells, remission was at 75 to 85%, but they eventually lose their capacity to conceive and bear more children.
So in summary, H-Mole is a cancer disease but it only affects 2 to 3% of cases.
