|
Thanks guys... Chris, I think Dr. Q got a little misty eyed when he met and held the girls for the first time. I think that's all the thanks he needed.
John, I left a msg... give me a call tonight if you get a chance... wanted to see how you guys were doin'...
Bigfish, TTTS stands for Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome. The short version is that it is a disease of the shared placenta. The mother is healthy, the babies are healthy, but their is a defect in the placenta. It occurs in 10-15% of identical twins... it does not occur in fraternal twins as they have separate placentas.
The defect is that there are extra blood vessels or arteries present that promotes unequal blood sharing between the babies. One baby, the donor, sends too much blood to the recipient. TTTS varies in severity. Sometimes very little blood is exchanged and the pregnancy can proceed fairly normally. Sometimes its so bad that a mother can lose one or both babies before she even knows she has twins. Our case was detected at 13 weeks, but you have to wait till 16 weeks to be sure its TTTS and not other birth defects.
The results of the unequal blood sharing are pretty bad. The donor baby doesn't get enough blood and becomes severely anemic. In addition, because of the lack of blood being processed, the donor baby doesn't produce amniotic fluid and becomes "shrink wrapped" in his/her sack. The other baby processes too much blood and causing the heart to work too hard usually resulting in heart defects or heart failure. This baby also produces too much amniotic fluid and his/her sack expands.
The other major issue with this excessive blood sharing is that if the donor baby dies, any infection or contaminants flows to the other baby often causing the recipient to die as well.
Untreated, TTTS is somewhere around 90-100% fatal to both babies.
Traditional treatment was amnioscentithis (sp?) or amnio-reduction where they basically stick a needle in through the belly and withdraw excess fluid. This doesn't help the donor baby at all and only marginally helps the recipient. This is a viable option for someone who has a milder form and they are only trying to put off labor for a few weeks.
Dr. Quintero's group has developed and continues to work on laser-photocoagulation surgery in which they go in and zap the offending vessels and arteries, therefore correcting the problem, and curing the disease. That is way oversimplifying things, but that's the basic premise of what they are doing.
While our case was fairly severe, we were also lucky in a way because the offending vessels were large and easy to find and the procedure went great. And Karen is a strong young lady and she and the babies came through wonderfully. You can see the results of when it succeeds. So much for the short version, huh? Anyway, gotta fly... my eldest daughter is waiting. Later folks and thanks again.
|
Threaded Mode