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The Northwestern twin chorionicity study: testing the ‘placental crowding’ hypothesis

  • Isaac Blickstein , Saar Mincha , Ran D. Goldman , Geoffry A. Machin and Louis G. Keith
Published/Copyright: March 7, 2006
Journal of Perinatal Medicine
From the journal Volume 34 Issue 2

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the relation between placental proximity and frequency of birth weight discordance and small-for-gestational age (SGA) infants.

Study design: Retrospective three-tier chorionicity analysis of 1155 twin placentas comparing birth weight characteristics of the twins in different placental types.

Results: Dichorionic-separate, but not dichorionic-fused twins, are heavier than monochorionic-diamniotic and monoamniotic twins (2376±721 vs. 2274±770, P<0.006, and 2376±721 vs. 2166±782, P<0.04). SGA twins are less frequent among dichorionic twins (OR 0.4; 95% CI 0.3, 0.6). Fewer sets with two SGA infants are present among dichorionic-separate compared to monochorionic-diamniotic pairs (OR 0.3; 95% CI 0.1, 0.8). The same trends are found when comparing all dichorionic to all monochorionic twins. Twins of all placental types have similar gestational ages and discordance values.

Conclusions: Dichorionic-separate placentas are least likely to experience ‘placental crowding’ and thus are associated with heavier twins and fewer sets with one or two SGA infants.

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Corresponding author: Dr. Isaac Blickstein Kaplan Medical Center Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology 76100 Rehovot/Israel Tel.: +972-8-944 1930 Fax: +972-8-941 1944

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Published Online: 2006-03-07
Published in Print: 2006-04-01

©2005 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin New York

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