Trisomy 18 in neonates: prenatal diagnosis, clinical features, therapeutic dilemmas and outcome.

The study aimed to analyse the clinical courses of aggressively treated neonates with cytogenetically confirmed trisomy 18, with special attention focused on the efficiency of prenatal diagnostics, associated malformations, therapeutic dilemmas and outcomes. We investigated retrospectively the data concerning 20 neonates with trisomy 18, admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in Katowice between January 2000 and February 2005. Their birth weights ranged from 650 g to 2400 g, mean 1812 g; gestational age ranged from 27 to 42 weeks, median 38 weeks.

[Circulatory system in twin to twin transfusion syndrome].

Background: Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) is a common and severe complication of monochorionic twin pregnancies associated with high perinatal loss rates and significant morbidity and morality in the surviving neonate. In recent years substantial progress has been made in understanding the pathogenesis, in the early diagnosis and methods of TTTS treatment, but many controversies still exist. Dynamic advance in the therapy of this foetal pathology considerably limited the morality: enlarging the number of neonates and children who require multidisciplinary intensive care.