Acardius acephalus with spontaneous umbilical cord occlusion: Reporting a rare case

Abstract

Twin reversed arterial perfusion syndrome is a rare obstetric condition that occurs in monochorionic twin pregnancies, resulting in coexistence of a normal “pump” twin and an acardiac twin. The acardiac twin is dependent upon the normal twin to provide circulation by means of vascular anastomosis, thereby putting the pump fetus at risk of high output cardiac failure. Overall only 50% of pump twins survive. Mortality for acardiac twin is 100%. We present a case of 26-year-old primigravida female presenting with 8 months of amenorrhea with unsure LMP. Ultrasonography followed by fetal MRI was carried out which revealed acardius acephalus twin with absence of blood flow in umbilical vessels. Pump twin had multicystic dysplastic left kidney with single umbilical artery. Following delivery, the pump twin survived well and the deformed fetus showed features of twin reversed arterial perfusion syndrome.

Keywords

• Acardius
• Acephalus
• TRAP
• Pump twin
• Acardiac twin