I.

INTRODUCTION

Obstetrical nursing, also called perinatal nursing, is a nursing specialty that works with

patients who are attempting to become pregnant, are currently pregnant, or have recently

delivered. They help provide prenatal care and testing, care of patients experiencing pregnancy

complications, care during labor and delivery, and care of patients following delivery.

Obstetrical nurses are expected to be detailed and organized since they usually have more than

one patient to deal with at a time. Critical thinking skills is highly needed since the patient's

health could change in an instant and they have to be ready to know what to do quickly and

accurately.

Gestational trophoblastic disease in abnormal proliferation degeneration of the

trophoblastic villi gene. As the cell degenerate, they become filled with fluid and appear as clear

fluid-field, grape-sized vesicles. The embryo fails to develop beyond a primitive start, abnormal

trophoblast cells must be identified because they are associated with choriocarcinoma, a rapidly

metastasizing malignancy.

The incidence of gestational trophoblastic disease is approximately 1 in every 1,500

pregnancies. The condition tends to occur most often in women who have a low protein intake,

in women older than 35 years of age, in women of Asian heritage, and in blood group A women

who marry blood group O men.

Hydatidiform mole (HM), the most common gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD), is a

nonviable genetically abnormal conception with excess expression of paternal genes and

abnormal proliferation of the placental trophoblast. In other words, a hydatidiform mole is a

growing mass of tissue inside your womb (uterus) that will not develop into a baby. It is the

result of abnormal conception. It may cause bleeding in early pregnancy and is usually picked up
in an early pregnancy ultrasound scan. It needs to be removed and most women can expect a full

recovery. However, close follow-up is needed after a hydatidiform mole because there is a small

chance of developing a type of cancer. If a cancer does develop, effective treatment is available

and most women can be cured.

Hydatidiform moles are most common among women under 17 or over 35. In the United

States, they occur in about 1 in 2,000 pregnancies. For unknown reasons, hydatidiform moles are

almost 10 times more common in Asian countries. According to a study conducted by The

Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society (POGS), the prevalence rate of hydatidiform

mole dropped from 7/1000 pregnancies in the early 80's to 2.7/1000 pregnancies from 1985-1994

with note of increase to 3.5/1000 in 1997-2001. At the UP-PGH the prevalence rate of

hydatidiform mole is 13.96.