Therapeutic dilemma in twin reversed arterial perfusion sequence

Abstract

The dissemination of minimally invasive in utero surgery reduced the mortality of twin reversed arterial perfusion sequence, but the mortality of expectantly treated surgical candidates remains high. A 26-year-old, non-parous, Japanese woman at 13 weeks of gestation had been diagnosed with twin reversed arterial perfusion sequence and was judged as a surgical candidate for radiofrequency ablation. However, she did not undergo surgery because of the anatomical location of the acardiac twin. At 18 weeks of gestation, the blood flow to the acardiac twin disappeared spontaneously. The pump twin began to demonstrate fetal growth retardation during the third trimester. The patient delivered a 1891 g female at term. We macroscopically identified the cause of the fetal growth retardation as velamentous insertion of the umbilical cord and microscopically diagnosed the acardiac twin with acardiac acephalus. We should give the same attention to the management of post–twin reversed arterial perfusion sequence as twin reversed arterial perfusion sequence itself.