Fetal Laser Surgery Can Separating Twins in the Womb

Fetal Laser Surgery Can Separating Twins in the Womb

Treatment of identical twin pregnancies with the problem of joining blood vessels that supply food to the fetus can now be done with laser surgery. This technique is proven to save multiple births by 80 percent.
Laser surgery can now be a safe alternative to separate identical twins who have only one placenta in the same bag. This discovery may help doctors save the life of a twin fetus.


One baby (baby receiver) receives more blood flow, whereas the other (infant donor) gets too little blood supply. Meanwhile, the infant recipient becomes overloaded with blood, the tension caused by the baby's heart to pump more blood that can cause heart failure. Previously, the only solution suggested to overcome this complication is with abortion, but this is rarely done.
India has applied laser surgery for more than two years to save the twin fetuses of a state-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS), which affects more than 15 percent of identical twin pregnancies.
"This is a rare condition in the case of identical twin pregnancies when the fetus is in a single bag. This makes both mutual struggle for the fetal nutrition. So while one baby gets more blood supply and nutrition, the other becomes too weak," said Anita Kaul, a consultant at Apollo Centre for Fetal Medicine, as reported from health.india, Tuesday (06/12/2012).
TTTS can be identified after 16 to 17 weeks of gestation. If confirmed, the doctor will decide where the separation of the laser procedure can be performed in the stomach only. While the blood vessels of two babies stay connected and both fetuses share the same placenta to supply nutrients from the mother's diet.
"Through foetoscope and laser rod, the blood vessels which joined inseparable. If done properly, this technique offers the possibility of 80 percent of the babies will be born safely," said Chander Lulla, consultant and specialist in fetal Jaslok Hospital, Mumbai.
Post-treatment, the baby's heart back into normal recipients, whereas donor babies begin to get the nutrients. Some of the challenges facing post-operative physician is premature delivery, infection prevention and health care of the twins.
Increasingly widespread in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics also increase the occurrence of TTTS cases in pregnant women. IVF increases the chance of pregnancy identical twins suffering from TTTS can.