Maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein in twin pregnancies uncomplicated by neural tube defect.
The maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein concentration was measured between 16 and 20 weeks in 145 twin pregnancies in which neither fetus had a neural tube defect. When the maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein concentration was less than two multiples of the singleton median, pregnancy outcome was good; the extended perinatal mortality rate was 32.6/1000, mean birth weights for the first and second twins were 2507 and 2443 gm, respectively, and mean gestation at delivery was 36 weeks, 6 days. When the maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein concentration was greater than four multiples of the singleton median, the outcome was poor; the extended perinatal mortality was 400/1000, mean birth weights were 1963 and 1523 gm, and mean gestation at delivery was 32 weeks, 4 days. The negative correlations of maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein concentration with birth weight and gestation at delivery were highly significant. Maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein concentration in midpregnancy is a useful predictor of outcome in twin pregnancy, independent of the occurrence of neural tube defect, and it appears to be related to the timing of delivery rather than fetal growth.
Redford
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DH
Whitfield
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CR
D001724:Birth Weight; D005260:Female; D005313:Fetal Death; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D009436:Neural Tube Defects / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications; D011379:Prognosis; D012306:Risk; D014427:Twins; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000032:analysis*
D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins