During In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) counselling, many couples explicitly request a twin pregnancy. Usually, families view twins as a convenient way to complete their family in a single treatment cycle. This choice seemingly saves time, emotional stress, and financial resources. However, from an advanced medical standpoint, Prof. (Dr.) Abha Majumdar views multiple pregnancies as a critical high-risk pregnancy for the mother as well as baby both. The ultimate goal of modern reproductive medicine is always a single, healthy live birth.
Years of primary infertility often drive couples to seek immediate, complete solutions. Consequently, they view a multiple pregnancy especially twins pregnancy as an ideal outcome. Furthermore, financial pressures lead patients to believe that transferring multiple embryos maximizes their financial investment per cycle.
Unfortunately, significant misconceptions regarding safety persist among families. Many individuals assume that because twins are common, they do not present distinct medical dangers. Therefore, providing structural transparency regarding maternal and fetal complications is vital before starting an IVF cycle.
Professor’s Medical Insight: Satisfying a patient’s demand for twins requires a Multiple Embryo Transfer (MET). While this path raises immediate conception statistics, it exponentially increases dangerous pregnancy pathways. We prioritize long-term maternal and neonatal safety above superficial success rates.
When a clinician transfers two or more blastocysts, the maternal body undergoes extreme physiological stress. We monitor these high-risk profiles continuously across two distinct areas:
| Risk Category | Clinical Complications | Long-Term Medical Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Maternal Factors | Pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes, and severe gestational hypertension, abnormal presentations and increase in caesarean deliveries | May causes antepartum and postpartum haemorrhage (PPH), post-partum depression. |
| Fetal Factors | Early first trimester bleeding and loss of one twin, second trimester miscarriages, Severe preterm birth (PTB) and Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR) with prolong nursery stay. | Increases the incidence of low birth weight and vital organ immaturity. |
| Monochorionic Risks | Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) in shared placentas. | Demands highly complex fetal interventions to avoid high mortality. |
Statistically, over 60% of all twin pregnancies result in premature delivery before 37 weeks. Consequently, these newborns face prolonged admissions to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). These infants frequently battle acute respiratory distress and long-term neurodevelopmental challenges.
