Immunohistochemical Demonstration of Intermediate Trophoblasts for Differential Diagnosis of Uterine and Ectopic Pregnancy

Objective: The objective in the study was to detect the intermediate trophoblastic cells and to differentiate the abortion from ectopic pregnancy by using immunohistochemical methods. Method: Four groups of patients were included in the study, and the archival materials of the patients were used for immunohistochemistry. Group 1 comprised of 10 patients who had miscarriages between the 5th and 12th weeks of gestation. There were 5 non pregnant patients in group 2. In group 3, there were 64 patients who had ectopic pregnancy between the 5th and 12th weeks of gestation. Group 4 comprised of 50 patients who were clinically suspected of miscarriage without chorionic villi, and cyto and syncytiotrophoblast. Results: All trophoblastic cells of chorionic villi showed strong positivity for sitokeratin in group 1 though this was not the condition in group 2 and 3. In group 4, however, 35 of 50 patients had intermediate trophoblast cells as detected by cytokeratin staining. Conclusion: The use of these hormone markers in endometrial specimens increases precision in the diagnosis of intrauterine versus ectopic pregnancy. Key words: Trophoblast, immunohistochemistry, ectopic pregnancy