Aims: Genetic amniocentesis is the most commonly used method for the diagnosis of genetic disorders of the fetus.
Patient and methods: The authors give an account of their experiences on genetic amniocentesis performed in almost 200 cases of twin pregnancies in the last eleven years. They examined the outcome of the pregnancies, the fetal loss, the distribution of the deliveries, the perinatal mortality data and the technical aspects of the procedures. The control group included twin pregnancies not undergoing genetic amniocentesis.
Results: The authors found that the spontaneous fetal loss between the 18th and 24th gestation weeks is 2.39%. After genetic amniocentesis this rate is 3.87%. According to their results this light increase in fetal loss is non significant.
Conclusions: The results suggest that beyond the 5th week after genetic amniocentesis the fetal loss can not be concluded as a result of the procedure. Regarding the outcome of the pregnancies they suggest, that the procedure should be done around the 18th gestation weeks. In their experience the procedure did not affect the perinatal mortality data.