Neurodevelopmental outcome of monochorionic twins with selective intrauterine growth restriction (SIUGR) type II: laser versus expectant management.

To compare the neurodevelopmental outcome of monochorionic-diamniotic twins (MCDA) with type II selective intrauterine growth restriction (SIUGR-II) managed Postnatal neurodevelopmental assessment was conducted on the children of patients that had been antenatally diagnosed with SIUGR-II between 16 and 26 weeks gestational age (GA) and that had been randomly assigned to expectant management (EM) versus laser therapy (LT). The assessment was conducted by trained specialists using the Battelle Developmental Inventory (BDI-2). BDI-2 total and domain (adaptive, personal-social, communication, motor, and cognitive) composite scores for the appropriately grown (AGA) and growth-restricted (IUGR) twins were compared by treatment arm. Twenty patients diagnosed with SIUGR had undergone block randomization between two centers to either expectant management (EM) (6) or laser therapy (LT) (14). The mean (SD) GA at diagnosis was no different between the EM and LT groups [21.5 (2.0) versus 21.1 (2.8) weeks, Neurodevelopmental outcomes for SIUGR-II MCDA twins were similarly favorable, whether managed expectantly or with laser treated. However, the significantly different GA at delivery (28.3 versus 33.4 weeks,