Fetal brain injury in survivors of twin pregnancies in single fetal intrauterine death – a short literature review

Abstract

Background. The incidence of multiple pregnancies is increasing in the last 10 years, along with the associated complications. Brain injuries and neurological complications associated with single fetal intrauterine death (sIUFD) are the most serious and have a negative impact on the surviving twin. Methods. This review was performed by a single individual who searched via Google Scholar and Pubmed clinical studies which included sIUFD in monochorionic (MC) twin pregnancies. This research included studies from the last 10 years and the keywords used were: “single intrauterine fetal death”, “monochorionic”, “fetal brain lesions”, and “twin pregnancies”. Results. After analyzing the clinical studies according to the keywords, only 15 studies (462 pregnancies) met the inclusion criteria. These included: monochorionic pregnancies and sIUF that occurred after 14 weeks. The results of these trials showed a strong statistical association between single fetal intrauterine death and co-twin fetal brain lesions and neonatal death. Also, many of these recent studies mentioned the relationship between monochorionic city and preterm delivery, fetal growth restriction and twin–twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS). Conclusion. Analyzing all these clinical studies, we can conclude that the intrauterine death of a twin in monochorionic pregnancies after the age of 14 weeks of gestation significantly affects the neurological development of the surviving twin.