Evaluation of the initial results in the Netherlands of selective feticide using umbilical cord coagulation in complicated monochorionic multiple pregnancies.

Prospective cohort study.

In the period June 2000-January 2007, 54 pregnant women with a complicated monochorionic multiple pregnancy, in whom selective feticide using umbilical cord coagulation was carried out, were included in the study. The indications were: twin reversed arterial perfusion sequence (n = 18), twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (n = 12), discordant growth (n = 4), and discordant anomaly (n = 20). Treatment was carried out in the Leiden University Medical Center. The pregnant women had been referred from the whole of the Netherlands.

Median gestational age was 18 weeks at treatment and 37 weeks at birth. 41 (73%) of the 56 fetuses intended to survive were still alive 28 days after birth.

The results in the Netherlands of selective feticide using umbilical cord coagulation in complicated monochorionic multiple pregnancies were similar to recently published results from specialized foreign centres.