Elucidation of vascular structure of molar villi in complete hydatidiform mole by CD-34 antibody.

Vasculature was examined immunohistochemically in the villous stroma in 22 cases of complete hydatidiform mole (CHM). Only antibody CD-34 was able to detect the vasculature. Serial thin and thick sections and squashed preparations of molar villi were stained by CD-34, and sequential photographs of the vasculature were taken and projected on paper, and the vasculature was described and reconstructed. In the stroma of almost all molar villi examined, vessels were found, but their density and structure varied greatly in each molar villus even in the same CHM, and the vessels were irregular in diameter. In fully distended molar villi the vessels often became narrow, continuing like a broken line but eventually vanishing. Generally the density of the vessels was inversely proportional to the grade of the swelling of villi. The vessels sometimes passed through two adjacent molar vesicles. No significant differences in vasculature were found in molar villi at different gestational ages.