Current Clinical Trials

Hydatidiform mole (molar pregnancy) is 100% curable. The selection of treatment is based on the desire to preserve reproductive capability.

Standard treatment options:

1. Removal of the hydatidiform mole (dilation, suction evacuation, and curettage).
2. Removal of the uterus (hysterectomy). Only in rare situations do the ovaries require removal.

Following this initial treatment, patients should be monitored with determination of serum BhCG to document its return to normal. Follow-up with a urinary pregnancy test is inadequate, and a sensitive radioimmunoassay is mandatory. Chemotherapy is necessary when there is:

1. A rising BhCG titer for 2 weeks (3 titers).
2. A tissue diagnosis of choriocarcinoma.
3. A plateau of the BhCG for 3 weeks.
4. Metastatic disease (good prognosis).
5. An elevation in BhCG after a normal value.
6. Postevacuation hemorrhage not caused by retained tissues.

Chemotherapy is required in only 20% of patients after evacuation of a molar pregnancy. Chemotherapy is the same as for nonmetastatic gestational trophoblastic tumor.

Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's PDQ Cancer Clinical Trials Registry that are now accepting patients with hydatidiform mole ¹. The list of clinical trials can be further narrowed by location, drug, intervention, and other criteria.

General information about clinical trials is also available from the NCI Web site ².