Complications of Early Pregnancy and Gestational Trophoblastic Diseases

Abstract

Placenta plays a crucial role in the development of the fetus. By connecting the fetus to the maternal circulation, it allows provision of oxygen and nutrients to the fetus while removing carbon dioxide and metabolic wastes. The placenta also provides essential hormones for the pregnancy and enables immunological protection for the fetus against infection and rejection by the maternal immune system. In this chapter, pathology of abortions as well as gestational trophoblastic diseases is discussed. Gestational trophoblastic diseases encompass a family of aggressive neoplasms, nonneoplastic lesions, and lesions with malignant potential that arise from various types of placental trophoblasts and may pose challenging problems in differential diagnoses in daily pathology practice.