molar pregnancy

[moh-ler preg-nuhn-see]

noun

Pathology, Embryology.

1. a rare complication of pregnancy in which abnormal placental tissue is accompanied by either the absence of fetal tissue or by impaired fetal tissue that cannot survive.

Word History and Origins

Origin of molar pregnancy¹

First recorded in 1830–35

Example Sentences

Jaci Statton of Oklahoma fled to Kansas after she was denied an abortion for a partial molar pregnancy, which could lead to cancer and cause urgent medical care.

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It turns out to have been a molar pregnancy, leaving behind tissue that could be cancerous.

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The Legislature in response to the ruling added the “serious health risk” and molar pregnancy provisions to the bill, and put all of its language into a new chapter of state law.

Read more on Seattle Times

Kristina Cruickshank of Rosenberg, Texas, thought her life was in jeopardy after a diagnosis of a nonviable “partial molar pregnancy,” in which the fetus has too many chromosomes and develops incompletely.

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But no such detailed consent was requested from the woman with the molar pregnancy that led to CHM13, let alone the man whose sperm DNA actually makes up the genome.

Read more on Science Magazine