Molar pregnancy....snow white appearance on ultrasound

Molar pregnancies are an uncommon and very frightening complication of pregnancy and occurs due to an abnormal fertilization process.The formal medical term for a molar pregnancy is "hydatidiform mole."

The diagnosis of molar pregnancy can nearly always be made by ultrasound, because the chorionic villi of a typical complete mole proliferate with vacuolar swelling and produce a characteristic vesicular sonographic pattern.

• Previously when the diagnosis was made at a later stage, the classical ‘snowstorm’ pattern of the uterus was described; however this is not commonly seen now.

Scan of the uterus shows the classical bunch-of-grapes appearance or snow-storm appearance in the uterine cavity is noted. This is the typical appearance of a gestational trophoblastic disease.

• Benson et al reported that the majority of first trimester complete moles demonstrated a typical

sonographic appearance of a complex and echogenic intrauterine mass containing many small

cystic spaces {which correspond to the hydropic villi on gross pathology}.