Twin-twin transfusion syndrome: a five year review
Y C Senga, V S Rajaduraib
a Department
of Pediatrics, Kandang Kerbau Women's and Children's Hospital,
Singapore, b Department of
Neonatology
Correspondence to: Dr Seng Yi-Chern, Department of Pediatrics, Kandang Kerbau Women's and Children's Hospital, 100 Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 229899 tgong{at}singnet.com.sg
Accepted 6 January
2000
OBJECTIVE
To determine
the incidence, complications, management, and outcome in infants with
twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) over a period of five years.
METHODSTTTS was
diagnosed in monochorionic twins if one was pale and the other
plethoric with a haemoglobin difference 
5 g/100 ml and/or
birthweight differences 15%.
RESULTSEighteen
(6.2%) of the 292 twin pairs had TTTS. Eight pairs (44%) had the
acute type and the rest (56%) had the chronic type of TTTS. The mean
(SEM) intrapair haemoglobin difference in the acute type was 4.8 (2.1)
g/100 ml which gave a discordance of 7.1 (4.6)%, whereas that in the
chronic type was 6.9 (2.9) g/100 ml and 24.4 (6.1)% respectively.
Infants with the acute type had a significantly higher incidence of
vaginal delivery (p < 0.03), hypotension (p < 0.025), and
respiratory distress (p < 0.01) compared with those with the chronic
type. There was no significant difference in the incidence of anaemia,
polycythaemia, asphyxia, hypoglycaemia, and hyperbilirubinaemia. Two
recipients died in utero as the result of chronic TTTS, while their
survivors developed spastic cerebral palsy. There were no neonatal deaths.
CONCLUSIONSTTTS,
although uncommon, may have an adverse neurodevelopmental outcome
especially if one twin dies in utero. Prompt recognition and management
of the haemodynamic and haematological problems of infants with the
acute types of TTTS will result in optimal neurodevelopmental outcome.
© 2000 by Archives of Disease in Childhood
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
CHISWICK, M.
(2000). Assessing outcomes in twin-twin transfusion syndrome. Arch. Dis. Child. Fetal Neonatal Ed.
83: 165F-167
[Full Text]
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- author correspondance details
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in ADC Online
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
