The Causes And Effects Of Vanishing Twin Syndrome

By Sharon Kelly


Pregnancies are always quite complicated, especially if there are twins involved in its birth. One of the complications that may happen during the birth of twins is known as vanishing twin syndrome. Here are a few things to know about this phenomenon such as the causes of it and the effects it may have on the babies and the mother.

Just to give an idea, this is a type of incident wherein one of the children inside the womb would suddenly disappear leaving only one twin to stay there. Now, this would usually happen because of a miscarriage wherein the surviving child would take the placenta and fetal tissue of the one that is gone. In a way, it may actually seem like one child really did disappear from the womb.

As to when this incident usually occurs, it would usually happen some time during the first trimester of the pregnancy and is spotted through ultrasound. The first ultrasound will tell the parents that there are twins in the womb. The next ultrasound will then confirm if one twin disappears which will conclude that the mother had this syndrome.

Some facts to know about this condition is that it happens in around twenty eight percent to thirty percent of pregnancies. In fact, this happens very often in the first parts of pregnancies that many mothers are not even aware if they got this condition or not. It is also possible for a mother to have a miscarriage reading but only have one child inside her womb.

Unfortunately, the cause for this sort of incident is still unknown or cannot be concluded. There have been a few studies that have linked this condition with abnormalities found in the chromosomes of the vanished twin. Other than that, there have been no conclusive evidence that would state the true cause or causes of this condition.

That said though, most mothers would actually be worried about some complications that may happen to them or the surviving baby. The good news is that there are usually no complications that accompany this condition aside from a few symptoms that would result in a few medicines prescribed by the doctor. Some symptoms may include bleeding, uterine pain, and even pelvic pain.

This is not the cause for pregnancies wherein this syndrome occurs during the later part of the pregnancy though. If ever this happens sometime during the second or third trimester, the doctors would usually treat it as a high risk pregnancies because of possible complications. One of the complications would be an increase in the risk of cerebral palsy for the surviving child.

Now, early detection and preparation would be the key in avoiding such complications like the ones mentioned above. Awareness about the complications, the symptoms, and other things is extremely important. That is why it is recommended that mothers who are already having some symptoms that were mentioned above should go visit a doctor as soon as possible.




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