Hydatidiform mole in a 57-year old woman.

Gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) represents a spectrum of lesions characterised by an abnormal proliferation of trophoblast, including complete hydatidiform mole, partial hydatidiform mole, invasive hydatidiform mole, choriocarcinoma, placental site trophoblastic tumour, epithelioid trophoblastic tumour, placental site nodule and plaque, and exaggerated placental site reaction. Complete mole is characterised by gross hydropic villous swelling with some degree of circumferential and haphazard trophoblast proliferation microscopically. The incidence of pregnancy in perimenopausal women is extremely low. Most pregnancies that occur will end in spontaneous abortion. In the remaining pregnancies the incidence of GTD is greatly increased. Only isolated cases of hydatidiform mole in elderly women have been reported in the literature. We report on a patient aged 57 years with a complete hydatidiform mole to emphasise that this diagnosis should still be considered at an older age.