Anyone ever heard of Vanishing Twin Syndrom?

Question

A friend of mine recently found out that she had lost one of the twins she was carrying. Thing is, she never miscarried. It simply disappeared. I'm pregnant and wondering how often this phenomenon occurs? Could it happen to me?

Answer 1

I hang around on an IVF board, and I see vanishing twin syndrome failry frequently. It is usually when one twin (identical of fraternal) is chromosomally abnormal and cannot continue to grow. The twin simply stops growing, and the body eventually reabsorbs the tissue. Almost all of the time, it happens in the first trimester, and that is why there is very little fetal tissue to be asborbed. It can happen later in pregnancy, although it is rare, and it can lead to a mummified fetus that remain in utero until birth.

If you are pregnant with twins, it could happen to you. The statistics are not very reliable, as it is believed that many twins vanish before a mother even realizes she is pregnant, so she may never know she was PG with twins. So most researchers believe that the incidence of vanishing twins is higher than previously believed. The website I have linked below states that "vanishing twin syndrome occurs in 21-30% of multifetal gestation." This includes not only twin pregnancies, but all multiples, as well.

That said, even if the higher number (30%) is accurate, that still means a woman carrying twins has a 70% chance of not having a vanishing twin, so I wouldn't worry too much.

I hope your pregnancy goes well and that your friend's remaining baby stays healthy.

Answer 2

Until recently it was thought to be very rare, but with 4D ultrasounds it has been found to be a lot more common than previously thought. That's not to say that it will happen to you, but it's something you shouldn't worry about. It's just one of those things that happens, and usually happens very early on in the pregnancy and no one ever knows. The cause of it is still unknown, but what they've discovered is that for some reason the baby dies and gets reabsorbed into the mother's body. It could be that it's reabsorbed instead of miscarried to protect the living baby, but they just don't know.

Don't worry about it.

Answer 3

Same thing happened to someone I know--she actually delivered the other baby about 23 hours ago, just 15 minutes before her due date. It's probably more common than anyone knows because a lot of women don't have ultrasounds very early in pregnancy that would diagnose the twins before one disappears.

Answer 4

I watched a special on tv on the discovery channel about a kid in an eastern country that they had thought had a tumor. He was around 5 or so and ever since he was younger his belly kept getting bigger and bigger, in an abnormal fashion, not like he was getting fat. Come to find out it was his twin in side him, dead of course but the cells were still growing. it was a circular mass they took out of him and it had hair and teeth and everything jumbled up in it. It was really interesting, but when a twin desolves that normally doesn't happen. In fact it is incredibly rare. I think what happens is it just dissolves back into the body.

Answer 5

I understand a couple of lady who've skilled this -- with so much it used to be a vanishing dual that led to a natural healthful singleton being pregnant, even as an additional pal of mine it sounds as if began out pregnant with triplets however by means of her subsequent ultrasound it used to be twins. For myself, we had one being pregnant wherein I suspected a vanishing dual however not anything proven. Vanishing dual syndrome is truthfully inspiration to be very ordinary. Experts have lengthy in view that proven that the prevalence of a couple of pregnancies is a ways bigger than the prevalence of a couple of births. Some records advise that as many as one in 8 pregnancies start as a couple of pregnancies. Generally the "vanishing" dual spontaneously aborts for the period of the primary trimester; the tissue is generally absorbed by means of the placenta, the mum, or the surviving dual. The frequency with which this happens is fitting recognized seeing that of the improved use of early ultrasound. I'm sorry you had this occur -- might the leisure of your being pregnant be pleased healthful and pressure-unfastened.

Answer 6

Yes I have heard of it. What actually happens is one of the fetuses spontaneously aborts, usually during the first trimester; the fetal tissue is absorbed by the other twin, the placenta, or the mother, thus giving the appearance that the twin "vanished."

Answer 7

It happened to my mother. 18 years ago my mom found out she was pregnant with twins and on the next Dr.'s visit, only my sister was there. There was no sign of anything happening, no pain for her or anything like that. It is common, as sad as that sounds, but the odds of it happening to you aren't as big as your probably thinking and even if it does, it just wasn't meant to be. I know that sounds harsh, I'm pregnant too, but I would rather God take care of it before there could be any sort of suffering on anyones part.]

Answer 8

What it means is that one twin did not survive and was absorbed by the other twin. It probably does happen often, I don't know. I don't know about other women, either, but I had and ultrasound very early in pregnancy (you can hear the hearbeat at 5 weeks, least I did).

I am an expectant mom.

Answer 9

It happened to my mom when she was carrying me. There were 2 heart beats for months and then all of a sudden there was not, just one, mine. There are times in my life that I have felt my twins presence in my life, and there have been times that I have felt that half of me was missing. Im not sure how often this happens but it does,

Answer 10

I have never heard of the there not being a miscarriage involved. I wouldn't let what happens to other people worry you though exspecially something like that!!! I mean there is a one in what million chance that this could happen. keep your head up and on straight and all will be fine. hope this helps