A succenturiate lobe with fused umbilical cord originated from vanishing twin syndrome

초록

Two placentas in singleton pregnancy with fused umbilical cord which has its own placental insertion site forming 3-vessel cord at fetal end is an extremely rare case. This present case describes two placentas with fused umbilical cord with an episode of vanishing twin syndrome and there seems to be a strong relationship between these two events. Therefore, as far as we know, this is the first case in the world which describes two placentas with fused umbilical cord related to vanishing twin syndrome. A 37-year-old woman, gravid 0, para 0, visited ER with an episode of vaginal bleeding without pelvic cramps at 8 weeks and 5 days of gestation and repeated ultrasonic exams revealed reabsorption of vanishing twin and two separate placentas on anterior and posterior body of uterus. At 40 weeks and 4 days, the patient delivered a viable female infant weighing 3900 g via Cesarean section and postpartum examination of the placentas and membranes confirmed two placentas with fused umbilical cord. Two placentas were almost equal in size and main placental disc cord had 2 arteries with one vein (3 vessel-cord) whereas side placental disc cord had one artery with one vein (2 vessel-cord). Several hypothesis including placenta abnormalities after IVF-ET procedure, succenturiate lobes and fetus-in-fetu were proposed.