PLACENTAL ISOFERRITIN LEVELS DURING FIRST TRIMESTER OF NORMAL AND COMPLETE MOLAR GESTATIONS

Serum placental isoferritin levels (PLF) levels were measured in 33 pa tients admitted for routine scanning of a first trimester normal singl eton pregnancy and six patients who were hospitalized for uterine evac uation of a complete molar gestation. Venous blood was obtained upon a dmission and before curettage, when necessary. Serum was separated int o glass tribes, immediately frozen and stared at -20 degrees C until a nalysed. The mean serum PLF levels were 18.1 (+/- 14) U/ml and 5.5 (+/ - 2) U/ml for normal and molar gestations, respectively, with a signif icant difference between the two groups (P=0.001). Sixty-seven per cen t of normal pregnancies had serum PLF levels greater than or equal to 10 U/ml, whereas none of the molar gestation group reached this thresh old level. Furthermore, the molar gestation group's low serum PLF leve ls remained unchanged throughout the entire follow-zip period and unti l their beta-human chorionic gonadotrophin levels mere undetectable. U nlike normal pregnancies, the molar trophoblast does not seem to secre te or synthesize PLF, suggesting that the complete molar placenta has different protein-producing capabilities when compared with those foun d in normal pregnancies. Further studies, including serum PLF among ot her categories of gestational trophoblastic neoplasms, are recommended before this data call be integrated into routine clinical work.