Premium
Transvaginal sonographic diagnosis of live monochorionic twin ectopic pregnancy
Author(s) -
Hanchate Vijay,
Garg Ashwin,
Sheth Rahul,
Rao Jhanavi,
Jadhav Pallavi J.,
Karayil Diljit
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of clinical ultrasound
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.272
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1097-0096
pISSN - 0091-2751
DOI - 10.1002/jcu.10027
Subject(s) - medicine , ectopic pregnancy , adnexal mass , gestational sac , laparotomy , pregnancy , obstetrics , twin pregnancy , gestational age , fetus , gynecology , surgery , genetics , biology
Ectopic pregnancy is a leading cause of pregnancy‐related deaths; its incidence has progressively increased in recent years. Spontaneous twin ectopic pregnancy, however, is extremely rare. Among more than 100 reported cases of twin tubal pregnancies, only 5 cases in which fetal cardiac motion has been visualized in both embryos have been reported. We describe an additional case of a live monochorionic twin ectopic pregnancy in a patient with no predisposing factor. With transabdominal sonography, we initially diagnosed a single ectopic pregnancy, visualized as an ill‐defined mass in the left adnexa. However, with transvaginal sonography, we determined the left adnexal mass to contain a single monochorionic gestational sac with 2 embryos, each with cardiac motion. These findings were confirmed with color Doppler sonography and at laparotomy. The introduction of high‐resolution transvaginal sonography has resulted in the earlier diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy and has contributed to a recent decrease in the maternal mortality and morbidity associated with this condition. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound 30:52–56, 2002.