PubMed · 13910427
The source did not provide an abstract. Follow the original record for more information.
Explore connections, maps & timelines
S A SELIGMAN. 1961. Ectromelia. A case report.. https://doi.org/10.1136/adc.36.190.658
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.
KEEP EXPLORING
An acardiac twin pregnancy is a rare but serious complication of monochorionic twinning and consists of an acardiac twin and a pump twin. The acardiac twin is a severely malformed fetus that lacks most organs, particularly a heart, but grows during pregnancy because it is perfused by the developmentally normal pump twin via a set of arterioarterial and venovenous placental anastomoses. Pump twins die intrauterine or neonatally in about 50% of the cases. Because the effects of an acardiac mass on the pump twin's development are incompletely known, methods for outcome prognosis are currently not available. We sought to derive simple relations for the pump twin's excess cardiac output and decreased oxygenation and to use available clinical cases for a preliminary test of the model. As a method, we used a theoretical flow model to represent the fetoplacental circulation of an acardiac twin pregnancy and estimated blood deoxygenation and reoxygenation following perfusion of the two bodies and placentas, respectively. The results show the pump twin's excess cardiac output and decrease of venous oxygen saturation to depend on the ratio of pump twin to acardiac twin umbilical blood flow, whose ratio can be measured by ultrasonography. The clinical cases show a decreasing umbilical flow ratio with gestation. In conclusion, prospective serial study is necessary to test whether measurement of umbilical flow ratios allows monitoring the pump twin's pathophysiologic development, possibly resulting in a guideline for prognosis of pump twin survival.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Acardiac twinning is the most extreme form of twin-twin transfusion syndrome occurring in monzygotic twin pregnancies with monochorionic placentation. A case of acardiac amorphous foetus, occurring in association with spontaneously conceived triplet pregnancy, diagnosed on ultrasound in early second trimester is described and its antenatal management and brief review of literature discussed.