O'Brien Barbara M
Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Brown University, Providence, RI 02905, USA.
Am J Med Genet C Semin Med Genet. 2009 May 15;151C(2):155-61. doi: 10.1002/ajmg.c.30210.
Twin pregnancies are associated with an increase in both fetal and maternal morbidity and mortality. Health care supervision is complex, increasingly requiring care from maternal-fetal medicine specialists. This review discusses optimal twin prenatal management, which includes recognizing increased twin pregnancy risks specific to twin-types; counseling families regarding fetal complications, ranging from prematurity to cerebral palsy; screening for aneuploidy and open neural tube defects; specific twin guidelines for diagnostic testing, including chorionic villus sampling and amniocentesis; and monitoring for maternal complications.