Longitudinal monitoring of fetal behavior in twins when one is anencephalic.

BACKGROUND

To our knowledge, there has been no report on longitudinal monitoring of fetal behavior in the anencephalic fetus.

CASE: A 30-year-old woman was diagnosed with a twin pregnancy at 8 weeks' gestation; at week 20, one of the twins was identified as anencephalic. From 25-36 weeks' gestation, the behavioral patterns of each fetus were recorded weekly on videotape for 60 minutes, then compared with morphologic findings after birth.

CONCLUSION

Our data comparing normal and anencephalic fetuses indicate that the development of the central nervous system above the medulla oblongata plays an important role in the elimination of fetal movements, such as startle, jumping, and writhing, and in the commencement of breathing movements.