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Twin Study: Relationship between Birth Weight, Zygosity, Placentation, and Pathologic Placental Changes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

M.A. Ramos-Arroyo
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Genetics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, USA
T.M. Ulbright*
Affiliation:
Department of Pathology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, USA
P.-L. Yu
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Genetics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, USA
J.C. Christian
Affiliation:
Department of Medical Genetics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, USA
*
Department of Pathology, Indiana University Hospital – N340, Indianapolis, IN 46223, USA

Abstract

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We examined the placentas of 182 like-sexed live-born twins: 73 placentas (40.1%) were monochorionic and 109 (59.9%) were dichorionic. All twin pairs with monochorionic placentas were monozygotic (MZ), but 28.9% of pairs with dichorionic placentas were MZ. Analysis of birth weights demonstrated that dichorionic and dizygotic (DZ) twins were heaviest, and suggested that the chorion status is a more important determinant of birth weight than zygosity. Vascular anastomoses were identified only in monochorionic placentas and occurred in 79.5% of cases. All placentas with deep anastomoses had superficial anastomoses. A higher proportion of velamentous and marginai insertions of the umbilical cord in monochorionic placentas (27.4%) compared to dichorionic placentas (13.8%) supports the belief that lateral placental growth is greatest in twin gestations in which the embryos are initially most closely apposed — The theory of trophotropism.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Twin Studies 1988

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