diff --git a/lib/rules_block/table.js b/lib/rules_block/table.js
index 000005d..bf276e2 100644
--- a/lib/rules_block/table.js
+++ b/lib/rules_block/table.js
@@ -140,12 +140,15 @@ module.exports = function table(state, startLine, endLine, silent) {
     if (lineText.indexOf('|') === -1) { break; }
     rows = escapedSplit(lineText.replace(/^\||\|$/g, ''));
 
+    // set number of columns to number of columns in header row
+    rows.length = aligns.length;
+
     state.tokens.push({ type: 'tr_open', level: state.level++ });
     for (i = 0; i < rows.length; i++) {
       state.tokens.push({ type: 'td_open', align: aligns[i], level: state.level++ });
       state.tokens.push({
         type: 'inline',
-        content: rows[i].trim(),
+        content: rows[i] ? rows[i].trim() : '',
         level: state.level,
         children: []
       });
diff --git a/test/fixtures/markdown-it/tables.txt b/test/fixtures/markdown-it/tables.txt
index 1f25547..23eefcb 100644
--- a/test/fixtures/markdown-it/tables.txt
+++ b/test/fixtures/markdown-it/tables.txt
@@ -241,3 +241,22 @@ Delimiter escaping:
 </tbody>
 </table>
 .
+
+
+Add/remove columns to match the first row:
+.
+Heading 1|Heading 2|Heading 3
+---|---|---
+1|2
+1|2|3|4
+.
+<table>
+<thead>
+<tr><th>Heading 1</th><th>Heading 2</th><th>Heading 3</th></tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr><td>1</td><td>2</td><td></td></tr>
+<tr><td>1</td><td>2</td><td>3</td></tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+.