Monozygotic twins discordant for single umbilical artery and congenital heart disease☆,☆☆,★
Section snippets
Case report
A 25-year-old woman, gravida 2, para 0, was seen at 6 weeks’ gestation for her first prenatal visit. She had Hashimoto’s disease that was managed with levothyroxine at that stage and became euthyroid during the rest of pregnancy. Transvaginal ultrasonography at 10 weeks’ gestation showed a gestational sac containing 2 fetuses (2.5 cm and 2.5 cm in crown-rump length) separated by very thin membranes. She was admitted to our hospital at 26 weeks’ gestation after the detection of a small amount of
Comment
Because monozygotic twins arise from a single fertilized ovum that subsequently divides into two similar structures, monozygotic twins are presumed to be genetically identical, and they usually have similar characteristics. However, monozygotic twins are not always concordant for congenital malformations. As for congenital heart disease and single umbilical artery, both concordant and discordant cases of monozygotic twins have been described, suggesting that not all cases share the same cause.
References (2)
Twinning: mechanisms and genetic implications
Curr Opin Genet Dev
(1996)- et al.
Single umbilical artery: a clinical enigma in modern prenatal diagnosis
Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol
(1995)
Cited by (9)
Prevalence of congenital cardiac disease
2010, Paediatric CardiologyPrevalence of Congenital Cardiac Disease
2009, Paediatric CardiologyPathology of heart disease in the fetus, infant and child: Autopsy, surgical and molecular pathology
2019, Pathology of Heart Disease in the Fetus, Infant and Child: Autopsy, Surgical and Molecular PathologyRecent advances in placenta-heart interactions
2018, Frontiers in PhysiologyMonoamniotic monochorionic twins discordant for noncompaction cardiomyopathy
2013, American Journal of Medical Genetics, Part APrevalence of noncardiac structural anomalies in twin-twin transfusion syndrome
2012, Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine
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From the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nagasaki University, School of Medicine.
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Reprint requests: Daisuke Nakayama, MD, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, 1-7-1 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852, Japan.
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