Introduction:

During pediatric, genetic, sonographic, or pathological anatomy examination on complicated twin gestational fetuses, questions arise concerning differential diagnosis, especially when cases are associated with malformations, maceration of several months duration, or complex structural duplications.

Objective:

To propose an algorithm for approaching perinatal autopsy in complicated multiple gestations.

Materials and Methods:

Descriptive observational study on twin gestations seen in the Hospital Universitario San Ignacio (HUSI) in 2007-2013. We defined "complicated twin gestation" as one in which an examination of the fetus or fetuses raised one of the following differential diagnoses: macerated fetus, conjoined fetuses, fetus in fetu, acardiac fetus, or congenital teratoma. An anatomopathological study was performed and twins were classified according to the proposed algorithm.

Results:

Analysis of 59 cases in which at least one fetus required a perinatal autopsy. The leading causes of death were ascending infections and fetal-twin transfusion syndrome. Among complicated multiple gestations we observed eight fetuses including three acardiac macerated fetuses. We applied the algorithm proposed in this article.

Conclusion:

Diagnosis in twin pregnancies can sometimes be difficult. We identify the most important aspects of medical records and perinatal autopsy to be considered in reaching a definitive diagnosis; we develop an algorithm to be applied in these circumstances.

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