The role of umbilical artery velocities in the clinical assessment of twin-twin transfusion syndrome at stage

Objective: To analyze the discordances of the umbilical artery velocities between pregnancies with twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) at stage I and those with normal monochorionic-diamniotic (MCDA) twins, and investigate the value of their discordances in predicting TTTS at stage I.

Methods: We recruited 58 twin pregnancies with TTTS at stage I and 60 normal MCDA twin pregnancies in a tertiary referral center retrospectively. The umbilical artery velocities and their discordances were compared between the normal and TTTS twins.

Results: The discordances of umbilical artery mean diastolic velocity (UA-MDV), umbilical artery time-averaged maximum velocity (UA-TAmax), umbilical artery peak systolic velocity (UA-PSV), and umbilical artery end-diastolic velocity (UA-EDV) were higher in the TTTS group than in the normal group. In TTTS co-twins, the UA-MDV, UA-TAmax, UA-PSV, and UA-EDV in recipients were higher than those in donors. The discordances of UA-TAmax and UA-PSV were found to be independent predicting factors for TTTS at stage I.

Conclusion: Co-twin umbilical artery velocity discordances were significantly associated with stage I TTTS. The results suggest that UA-TAmax and UA-PSV might be new parameters for predicting TTTS at stage I.