The prenatal diagnosis of intrauterine growth retardation in one fetus of a twin gestation.

The prenatal care of twin gestations is primarily concerned with attempts at preventing premature labor and the management of obstetric difficulties. Little data are available prior to delivery, apart from Rh-isoimmunized twin gestations, concerning an individual fetus' well-being in a twin gestation. Ultrasonography has been concerned with the single gestation, and has not been used extensively in the care and evaluation of twin gestations, apart from early diagnosis of the condition. This report involves a twin gestation in which a significant repeated difference in the ultrasonographic fetal biparietal diameter measurements clearly identifies a normal fetus and a fetus with intrauterine growth retardation. The management of this patient could have been more aggressive with the present knowledge available and so resulted in better perinatal outcome.