<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
December is International TTTS awareness month, a global initiative to increase public awareness about the risks of being pregnant with monochorionic twins and guiding parents to the right medical advice and treatment. \u201cThere is an urgent need to drive awareness and knowledge about TTTS. The more people who are aware, the more lives can be saved,\u2019\u2019 says Dr. Lou Pistorius, Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist at Panorama Perinatology.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Pregnancy and childbirth is often referred to as the \u201cmost natural thing in the world.\u201d Thankfully, many pregnancies progress without serious complications. However, some women experience difficulties that can involve their health, their baby\u2019s health, or both. Diseases or conditions the mother had before she became pregnant can lead to complications, while others occur during the pregnancy or during labor and delivery.<\/p>\n
Twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) is a condition occurring where identical twins share a single placenta, called monochorionic twins.\u00a0One in every five sets of twins share a single placenta. TTTS develops in one in every ten sets of twins with a single placenta, when blood vessels from one twin\u2019s portion of the placenta \u201cshort-circuits\u201d to the other twin\u2019s portion.\u00a0One twin (the \u201cdonor\u201d) then little by little pumps some of its blood through the placenta to the other twin (the \u201crecipient\u201d).<\/p>\n
If this carries on long enough, the donor twin ends up with less and less blood in its circulation, causing the production of less amniotic fluid.\u00a0 Eventually, the donor becomes stuck to the side of the uterus because there is almost no amniotic fluid in its sac. In the most serious cases, the donor may not survive because of insufficient nutrients and\/or oxygen.\u00a0The recipient, on the other hand, produces an excess of amniotic fluid.\u00a0There may be so much amniotic fluid that the mother would notice a sudden increase in the size of the uterus, and experience discomfort or pain in the abdomen.\u00a0The amount of amniotic fluid might be so much that it could cause a miscarriage or result in preterm labor.\u00a0The overload of blood in the recipient twin\u2019s circulation can also cause heart failure and death of this twin.<\/p>\n
Despite the seriousness of the TTS diagnosis, early detection and prenatal care can reduce the potentially negative consequences.<\/strong><\/p>\n Luckily, this was the case with Anja and Friedrich Sonnendecker.<\/p>\n As Friedrich Sonnendecker described it, \u201cSomething went wrong. Anja\u2019s tummy doubled in size in just three days. We were scared, devastated. There were many times when we just wanted to give up and could not see very far ahead.”<\/p>\n After seeking consultation from different doctors, they contacted Dr. Pistorius, Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist at Panorama Perinatology. Using the latest GE Healthcare\u2019s ultrasound technology, TTTS was diagnosed. \u00a0He developed a treatment plan that included a complex laser surgery, that he hoped would be able to save the twins.<\/p>\n Dr. Pistorius said, \u201cAfter seeing Anja\u2019s case we admitted her to the hospital for laser surgery the same night. A thin instrument called a fetoscope was inserted under ultrasound guidance, through the abdominal wall into the cavity of the uterus to view the blood vessels in the placenta. With a laser fiber, all vessels connecting the two twins were obliterated. In this way, the joint placenta was artificially divided in two, and we drained the excess amniotic fluid.\u201d The team gave the anxious parents a 33% chance of success.<\/p>\n The operation was thankfully a success. The twin girls are now five years old and in good health, enjoying every moment of their young lives.<\/p>\n “Holding on to our 33% chance of hope resulted in 100% perfect little human beings, and we could not be more grateful! Looking back at our journey and at these two miracles that stand in front of us, we know that every struggle and every tear was worth it,” said Anja.<\/p>\n \u201cAny woman who is pregnant with twins and is experiencing any symptoms of TTTS is asked to reach out to their doctors early on to give the best chance for reducing the risks that might occur,\u201d says Dr. Pistorius. \u201cWhile we celebrate the success stories, at the same time our hearts are with the parents who have experienced the devastation of losing one or both twins because of TTTS.\u201d<\/p>\n Distributed by APO Group on behalf of GE Healthcare.<\/i><\/p>\n For additional information or queries please contact:\u00a0<\/strong> About GE Healthcare: <\/strong> Source<\/a> December is International TTTS awareness month, a global initiative to increase public awareness about the risks of being pregnant with monochorionic twins and guiding parents to the right medical advice and treatment. \u201cThere is an urgent need to drive awareness and knowledge about TTTS. The more people who are aware, the more lives can be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":79324,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/uploads\/socialshare.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2461],"tags":[258,256,2462,7621,8868,257,9234,10641,5069,254,18622],"class_list":["post-79323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-botswana","tag-africa","tag-africa-news","tag-botswana-news","tag-center","tag-hope","tag-news","tag-pregnancy","tag-saves","tag-south","tag-south-africa-today","tag-twins"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/uploads\/socialshare.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/africa-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nGE Healthcare Marketing Manager, SSA\u00a0: Sophie le Cordeur\u00a0
\nsophie.lecordeur@ge.com<\/u><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nGE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services to meet the demand for increased access, enhanced quality and more affordable healthcare around the world. GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter – great people and technologies taking on tough challenges. From medical imaging, software & IT, patient monitoring and diagnostics to drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies and performance improvement solutions, GE Healthcare helps medical professionals deliver great healthcare to their patients.<\/p>\n
\n
South Africa Today Africa \u2013 Southern Africa Botswana<\/a> News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"