title: Monochorionic triplet pregnancy complicated by severe fetofetal transfusion.
abstract: We report two cases of fetofetal transfusion in monochorionic triamniotic triplet pregnancies. Case 1: At 23 weeks' gestation an amnioreduction was carried out. Three days later, the donor triplet died in utero. Immediately after that, a cardiotocogram of the triplet who had been thought to be unaffected by the fetofetal transfusion, showed a non-reassuring fetal status. Although cesarean section was carried out, none of the triplets survived. Case 2: At 24 weeks' gestation a woman was transferred to our center because of fetofetal transfusion in monochorionic triplets. Cesarean section was carried out. However, the recipient died on the 75th day after birth, and the others had neurological problems. Previous reports on fetofetal transfusion in triplets are very limited. The prognosis of this condition has been reported to be severe, irrespective of chorionicity, gestational age at delivery, maternal age, and parity. When managing a monochorionic or dichorionic triplet pregnancy, serial and careful ultrasound examination is mandatory to find early symptoms of this serious condition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics, Center for Perinatal Medicine, Nagano Children's Hospital, Nagano, Japan.
authors.forename: Akiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: Akihiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kikuchi
authors.forename: Nao
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Joshita
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Mikiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tatematsu
authors.forename: Tsuguhiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Horikoshi
authors.forename: Yoshifumi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ogiso
authors.forename: Nobuya
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Unno
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D005330:Fetofetal Transfusion; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D014310:Triplets