Outcome of monochorionic twins conceived by assisted reproduction
Teresinha Simões1, Alexandra Queirós1, Ana Teresa Marujo1
1Department of Maternal-Fetal Medicine Maternity Hospital, Dr. Alfredo da Costa, Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Central and Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
Objective:
To evaluate monochorionic twins conceived by assisted reproductive technology (ART).
Design:
We compared perinatal outcomes of monochorionic twins conceived by ART with their dichorionic counterparts and with spontaneous monochorionic twins.
Setting:
Referral center.
Patient(S):
Mothers to monochorionic and dichorionic twins conceived by ART and spontaneous monochorionic twins.
Intervention(S):
None.
Main Outcome Measure(S):
Maternal characteristics, pregnancy complications, and perinatal outcomes.
Result(S):
Monochorionic twin pregnancies (n = 25) comprise 7.2% of all ART twins and 4.9% of all monochorionic twins in this data set. Monochorionic pairs have a significantly worse outcome compared with dichorionic sets in terms of lower gestational age and birth weight. ART appears to increase the already high risk of monochorionicity compared with spontaneous conception: odds ratio (OR), 2.9 (1.1-7.3) for preterm birth at <32 weeks and OR, 5.9 (2.5-1.49) for birth weight <1,500 g.
Conclusion(S):
Monochorionic twins after ART are at increased risk of adverse perinatal outcomes compared with spontaneous monochorionic twins and with dichorionic twins conceived by ART.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Ovarian Cycle
In Vitro Fertilization
The IVF process begins with ovarian stimulation, during which reproductive endocrinologists prescribe hormonal medications to stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple eggs instead of the single...
Reproductive Cloning
Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer
In SCNT, an egg cell is taken from an animal and its nucleus is removed, creating an enucleated egg. Then a somatic...
Nondisjunction
Meiosis II
Crossing Over
The homologous pairs of sister chromosomes—one from the maternal and one from the paternal genome—then begin to align alongside each other lengthwise, matching corresponding DNA positions in a process...


