"Ronn!Blankenship" wrote: > > Twin mystery confounds doctors > > First case of fraternal twins sharing a placenta documented > > (AP) --Contradicting nearly all the medical textbooks, doctors have proven > for the first time that fraternal, or nonidentical, twins can share a placenta.
Guess the folks at http://www.tttsfoundation.org/ will have to update their info page.... <snip> > Fraternal twins occur when two sperm fertilize two eggs at the same time; > they are relatively common with test tube babies because multiple embryos > are put in the uterus to increase the chances of producing a baby. They're also relatively common in cases where fertility drugs were involved to induce ovulation. And if twins run in the family, it's most likely fraternal twins. (Maybe some genetic basis for releasing more than one egg in a cycle or something?) > Riley said whether there is one placenta or two is important because if > twins share blood circulation, one can receive more of the blood, and > therefore more of the nutrients and oxygen. This is dangerous to both babies. This is called Twin-to-twin Transfusion Syndrome. As well as receiving more nutrients and oxygen, the one twin will also end up with more amniotic fluid in its amniotic sac. It's possible in some cases to treat this by doing amniocentesis repeatedly on the sac of the receiving twin. Somehow this helps the "donor" twin some. More drastic measures involving surgery on the placenta can be done as well, but that's riskier. (For more info, check out the URL I provided above.) Julia Guess what's one topic in the "possible problems" section in books about twin pregnancies? :) _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
