title: Ultrasound management and clinical outcome of twin pregnancies.
abstract: The rate of multiple pregnancies is showing a significant increase in Western countries. Twin gestations should be considered a high-risk condition because they are responsible for a disproportionate amount of overall perinatal morbidity and mortality. We used a specialised ultrasound protocol based on chorionicity to monitor 44 twin pregnancies (61% dichorionic diamniotic (DD) and 39% monochorionic diamniotic (MD)). Adverse pregnancy outcomes and pre-term deliveries were more common in MD pregnancies than in DD pregnancies; the rate of extreme pre-term delivery (< 32 weeks) was almost three-times higher in MD than in DD pregnancies (41% vs 15%) and perinatal complications were more frequent in MD than in DD pregnancies (59% vs 22%), but fetal anomalies were more frequent in DD than in MD pregnancies (30% vs 24%). Periodic ultrasound follow-up would predict the pregnancies that are at greater risk for fetal and neonatal complications and these should be monitored more closely.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Urologic Sciences, Sapienza University, Umberto I Hospital , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giancotti
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Muto
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: D'Ambrosio
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Diambrosio
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bevilacqua
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pasquali
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Squarcella
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: La Torre
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D059285:Pregnancy, Twin / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016216:Ultrasonography, Prenatal