A Case of Limb-Body Wall Complex Diagnosed by Prenatal Ultrasonography / 대한산부인과학회잡지

Limb-body wall complex, also known as the short umbilical cord syndrome or the body stalk anomaly, is a poorly defined, sporadic group of congenital anomaly characterized by a collection of protean fetal malformation, deformation and disruption. Accurate diagnosis is often difficult because of its variable presentation pattern and the absence of exactly same case. Ultrasonographic detection of abdominoschisis, scoliosis, abnormalities of the lower extremities, a single umbilical artery and a short umbilical cord is important for the prenatal diagnosis. This complex should be distinguished from other body wall defects including omphalocele and gastroschisis since the prognosis for limb-body wall complex is uniformly poor. We experienced a case of limb-body wall complex in a fetus of intrauterine pregnancy at 15 weeks who was terminated because of ultrasonographic demonstration of a large abdominal defect with eventration of abdominal organs, short umbilical cord and kyphoscoliosis. Thus, we report a case with brief review of the literatures.

A Case of Anencephaly Associated with Twin Pregnancy Conceived by In Vitro Fertilization and Embryo Transfer / 대한산부인과학회잡지

Twin pregnancies are increasing these days due to recent development of the technology in treating infertility and twin pregnancies tend to cause more congenital anomaly than singleton pregnancies do. Although anencephaly is not uncommon, occurring in about one in every 1,000 births, anencephaly developed in a twin pregnancy is very rare. We experienced a twin pregnancy which consisted of an anencephalic fetus and a normal one. This pregnancy was conceived by IVF and ET. This pregnancy was continued without having special problems and was delivered at 36 weeks of gestation by cesarean section due to SROM (spontaneous rupture of membrane). The anencephalic fetus weighed 1,430 gm and was already dead in the uterus. The other weighed 2,660 gm and showed no external anomaly. Its Apgar score was 8 in 1 minute and 9 in 5 minute. The pregnancy resulted in a cesarean section delivery of one dead anencephalic fetus and one normal healthy fetus. We report with a brief review of literature a case of a twin pregnancy, conceived by IVF and ET, in which anencephaly was associated with a normal fetus.