David Lau¹, Sunita Biswas², Shanna Kerin², Samuel Cotton², Lynette Moore³, Sui Yu²
University of Adelaide¹, Genetics and Molecular Pathology², Anatomical Pathology³, SA Pathology, South Australia

Accurate diagnosis of hydatidiform mole cases requires integrating histopathological findings with genetic testing. 

We conducted a statewide audit of SA Pathology’s database (the sole public pathology provider) spread across 5 public hospitals, reviewing 383 cases of suspected molar pregnancy (either by clinician or histopathologist) over a seven-year period.

Morphological features, immunohistochemical staining patterns and various genetic tests were examined for each case. This was used to evaluate the relationship between anatomical pathology staining, the selection of genetic tests performed, and the outcomes of genetic analysis.

Our data shows that collaboration between the anatomic pathology and genetic discipline is essential. It also identified that genetic testing especially microsatellite analysis as well as a consistent algorithmic approach across various hospitals/laboratories would lead to a more precise and accurate diagnosis.

Sui Yu conceived the audit concept and supervised the genetic analysis. Lynette Moore provided the anatomical pathology data and supervised the anatomical aspects of the research. David Lau extracted the genetic data, performed interpretation/statistical analyses on the compiled data. He also wrote the manuscript, with input from Samuel Cotton, Sunita Biswas, and Shanna Kerin. All authors discussed the results and contributed to the final manuscript.