The normal fetus of an acardiac twin pregnancy: perinatal management based on echocardiographic and sonographic evaluation.
Experience with three prenatally diagnosed pregnancies complicated by an acardiac twin reveals that ultrasonography and echocardiography are helpful in detecting early signs of in-utero congestive heart failure in the normal twin. The use of Doppler blood flow analysis to determine direction of blood flow, post-mortem placental and fetal angiography, and umbilical cord blood gas determination provided proof that retrograde arterial perfusion occurs in the acardiac fetus. In a fourth pregnancy, an experimental approach to occlude the acardiac twin's umbilical cord was attempted, but was unsuccessful.
Donnenfeld
A E
AE
Section of Genetics, Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia 19107.
van de Woestijne
J
J
Craparo
F
F
Smith
C S
CS
Ludomirsky
A
A
Weiner
S
S
D000328:Adult; D004077:Digoxin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy; D006801:Humans; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange; D006831:Polyhydramnios / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D011272:Pregnancy, Multiple; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis; D014430:Twins, Monozygotic
D004077:Digoxin