• Laurent J Salomon and Yves Ville.
• Maternité et Médecine Foetale, Université Paris Descartes, CHU Necker-Enfants-Malades.
• B Acad Nat Med Paris. 2008 Nov 1;192(8):1575-86; discussion 1586-7.

AbstractMultiple pregnancies represent 2% of all pregnancies but account for 20% of admissions to neonatal intensive care units. The outcome of multiple pregnancies is mainly dependent on chorionicity. Most perinatal complications are 3 to 12 times more prevalent in monochorionic pregnancies. The increased mortality and morbidity in this setting are mainly related to vascular anastomoses on the chorionic plate, joining the two fetal circulations. Intrauterine death of a monochorionic twin leads to exsanguination of the survivor, with fatal outcome in 20 to 30% of cases and a similar rate of severe ischemic complications. The most severe and acute complication is the twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS). The main clinical manifestations of TTTS are the polyuric polyhydramnios--oliguric oligohydramnios sequence in the recipient and donor twin, respectively. TTTS is associated with a perinatal mortality rate of around 90%, and neurological sequelae are present in 20-40% of survivors born at around 25 weeks. Serial amnioreduction was long the only fetal therapy for TTTS, improving the survival rate to around 50% for at least one twin delivered at around 28 weeks, and reducing the risk of sequelae to around 20% among survivors. We have developed an intrauterine fetoscopic surgical treatment for TTTS. A 2-mm endoscope and a diode laser fiber are introduced percutaneously, under local anesthesia, through a single 3-mm trocard Coagulation of feto-fetal anastomoses on the chorionic plate leads to the survival of at least one twin in around 80% of cases at 33 weeks. Fewer than 10% of survivors have sequelae, mainly related to prematurity. We conducted a randomized controlled trial that confirmed the superiority of laser therapy over amnioreduction. The long-term outlook of these infants is good, with up to 6 years of follow-up.

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