Assisted Reproduction Unit, Women's Health Center, VKV American Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
Fertil Steril. 2011 Aug;96(2):e111-4. doi: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2011.06.002. Epub 2011 Jul 1.
To report a case of conjoined twins conceived through assisted reproduction after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and the transfer of three eight-cell embryos on day 3.
Case report.
Assisted reproduction unit of a private hospital.
PATIENT(S): A 32-year-old patient underwent ICSI and received three embryos.
INTERVENTION(S): Ovarian stimulation and ICSI.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Images of the embryos and ultrasound images of the fetuses.
RESULT(S): One embryo measuring 7 weeks, relatively big in size and bizarre in appearance with one heartbeat, was detected on transvaginal ultrasound at 6 weeks, 4 days of pregnancy. Two weeks later, another ultrasound was performed; two fetuses with a common heart were observed. In 10th week of pregnancy, two fetuses with two hearts and an attached thorax were observed. A diagnosis of thoracopagus was made, and the pregnancy was terminated.
CONCLUSION(S): Conjoined twins conceived through assisted reproduction are extremely rare. This case, which occurred after transfer of cleavage-stage embryos, suggests that ovulation induction, ICSI, and assisted hatching may also play roles in addition to other factors commonly proposed to be responsible for conjoined twining, such as in vitro culture condition, culture time, and blastocyst-stage transfer.
报告 1 例通过卵胞浆内单精子注射（ICSI）和第 3 天转移 3 个 8 细胞胚胎后受孕的联体双胎。
病例报告。
私立医院的辅助生殖单位。
1 名 32 岁患者接受 ICSI 并接受了 3 个胚胎。
卵巢刺激和 ICSI。
胚胎图像和胎儿超声图像。
妊娠 6 周 4 天经阴道超声检查发现 1 个 7 周大小、外观怪异、有 1 个胎心的胚胎。2 周后再次进行超声检查，观察到 2 个具有共同心脏的胎儿。妊娠 10 周时，观察到 2 个具有 2 个心脏和连接胸部的胎儿。诊断为胸腹联体双胎，终止妊娠。
通过辅助生殖技术受孕的联体双胎极为罕见。该病例发生在卵裂期胚胎移植后，提示除体外培养条件、培养时间和囊胚期移植等常见的导致联体双胎的因素外，排卵诱导、ICSI 和辅助孵化也可能起作用。
