Trizygotic pregnancy consisting of two fetuses and a complete hydatidiformmole with dispermic androgenesis

A triplet pregnancy in a as-year-old woman was terminated at 15 weeks of ge station because of her severe hypertension, lung edema, and secondary hyper thyroidism, The pregnancy consisted of a hydatidiform mole with a 46,XY kar yotype and two fetuses each with 46,XX and a 46,XY karyotype, To determine the zygosity and genetic origin of the mole and fetuses, PCR- and computer- assisted genotyping were performed at 27 CA-repeat marker loci that were di stributed evenly over the genome. As a result, genotypes of the three pregn ancy products were distinct from each other, indicating that the triplets w ere trizygotic, The mole lacked any maternal alleles but inherited both of the paternal alleles and/or one paternal allele in duplicate, This, along w ith the XY sex chromosome constitution, indicated that the mole resulted fr om dispermic androgenesis, The mother developed a persistent trophoblastic tumor thereafter. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.