Cardiac morbidity in twin-twin transfusion syndrome?

Twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) affects about 10% of monochorionic pregnancies and develops when uncompensated unidirectional blood flow from one twin ('donor') to the other ('recipient') causes circulatory imbalance. The cardiac effect of the underlying hypervolemia or endocrine dysregulation, or both, manifests in the recipient as echocardiographic findings of the syndrome-related cardiomyopathy. The Quintero staging system for TTTS has recently been questioned, because more refined measurement of cardiac function may improve evaluation of disease severity and prediction of outcome. Much has been done to increase survival and diminish the cardiac morbidity associated with TTTS. The purpose of this paper was to review the literature on cardiac morbidity associated this syndrome.