Prenatal diagnosis and management of monozygotic twins discordant for severe fetal abnormalities.

OBJECTIVE

We present prenatal diagnosis and management of monozygotic (MZ) twins discordant for severe fetal abnormalities.

CASE REPORT: A 36-year-old woman underwent amniocentesis at 18 weeks of gestation because of advanced maternal age, and hydrops fetalis, a giant cystic hygroma of 5 × 3.5 cm and left hydronephrosis in a co-twin. The other co-twin was structurally normal. Amniocentesis revealed a karyotype of 46,XY in both co-twins. Simultaneous polymorphic DNA marker analysis using the DNAs extracted from maternal blood and uncultured amniocytes confirmed MZ twinning. The woman underwent a successful selective fetal reduction by radiofrequency ablation at 22 weeks of gestation. At 28 weeks of gestation, premature rupture of membranes occurred, and a 1280-g normal male baby and a 275-g dead malformed co-twin were delivered. The normal co-twin was phenotypically normal and was doing well at age seven weeks.

CONCLUSIONS

Prenatal diagnosis of MZ twins discordant for structural abnormalities should include a differential diagnosis of MZ twinning, and a zygosity test is necessary under such a circumstance.