Siriraj doctors save twins from rare disease

 This is the first such case in Thailand and Southeast Asia, said Prof Teerawat Kulthanan, dean of Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University.

He said the team, led by Dr Tuangsit Wattakanara, had detected abnormalities in the foetus carried by 41-year-old Yanee Phobuathong, who went to the hospital for prenatal care a month into her pregnancy.

Through ultrasound, the team found that the babies were suffering from the twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, caused by connecting blood vessels in their shared placenta. This results in one baby getting more blood than the other, which may result in the recipient twin being overloaded with fluid and killing it from heart failure, while the other twin may die from not having enough blood.

After following the development of the foetuses over 16 weeks, the surgical team decided to conduct laser surgery and cut off the connection of blood vessels.

Tuangsit said the boys were delivered when they were 35 weeks old, and are now healthy two-month-olds called Krittanat and Nattakritta. At delivery, they weighed 2,540 grams and 2,180g respectively.

Division of Maternal Foetal Medicine Unit's chief, Dr Wittaya Thithaphan, said twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome generally occurred in six out of every 10,000 pregnant women and treatment procedures usually depended on the severity of the situation.

In the past doctors advised pregnant woman to undergo surgical procedures to alleviate the symptoms until delivery, but now the blood-vessel connection can be severed through laser surgery.

Yanee said she was very worried when doctors first said her twins were suffering from a rare disease.

"Most people think that having twin boys is good luck, but I was really stressed out. I had never heard about this disease before, and after an Internet search I discovered that it was very rare and too expensive to treat," she said. "I had no choice but to turn to Siriraj Hospital and would like to thank the doctors who saved my and my children's lives."

Teerawat said that under normal circumstances this procedure would cost Bt1 million, but since this was the first such case not just in Thailand but the whole of Southeast Asia the hospital was happy to do it for free. He added that this would apply to other pregnant women suffering from this or other rare syndromes.