Hydatidiform moles: methods for culture and cytogenetic analyses.

Placental tissue with macroscopic visible vesicles was processed for chromosome analysis. Enzymatic tissue dissociation, culture initiation in Chang's medium, and final culture in a medium with high glucose content were used, which increased the success rate for karyotyping from 55% to 93%. Median culture time necessary for obtaining a karyotype decreased to about 1 week, irrespective of the chromosomal constitution. This was achieved in spite of increasing time for transportation. The metaphases obtained permitted detailed analysis of chromosomal polymorphisms. In 8 of 44 cases, the karyotype was established on short-term culture alone, which proved to be a valuable supplement in this study.