title: Transvaginal sonographic diagnosis of live monochorionic twin ectopic pregnancy.
abstract: Ectopic pregnancy is a leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths; its incidence has progressively increased in recent years. Spontaneous twin ectopic pregnancy, however, is extremely rare. Among more than 100 reported cases of twin tubal pregnancies, only 5 cases in which fetal cardiac motion has been visualized in both embryos have been reported. We describe an additional case of a live monochorionic twin ectopic pregnancy in a patient with no predisposing factor. With transabdominal sonography, we initially diagnosed a single ectopic pregnancy, visualized as an ill-defined mass in the left adnexa. However, with transvaginal sonography, we determined the left adnexal mass to contain a single monochorionic gestational sac with 2 embryos, each with cardiac motion. These findings were confirmed with color Doppler sonography and at laparotomy. The introduction of high-resolution transvaginal sonography has resulted in the earlier diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy and has contributed to a recent decrease in the maternal mortality and morbidity associated with this condition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, Parel, Mumbai 400012, India.
authors.forename: Vijay
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Hanchate
authors.forename: Ashwin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Garg
authors.forename: Rahul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sheth
authors.forename: Jhanavi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: Pallavi J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Jadhav
authors.forename: Diljit
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Karayil
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005318:Fetal Heart; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011271:Pregnancy, Ectopic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011272:Pregnancy, Multiple; D014427:Twins; D014463:Ultrasonography