Fraternal Twins or Identical Twins?

Doctors have reported the first known case of fraternal twins who shared a single placenta in the womb. The researchers have suggested that this unique form of twinning may have come about as a result of in vitro fertilization. The twins, a boy and a girl, are now 2 years old and ''normal and healthy,'' said Dr. Vivienne L. Souter, a geneticist who described them in Thursday's issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. Each child possesses a mixture of male and female blood, most likely because their blood systems ''communicated'' through the shared placenta, Dr. Souter said. But all their other tissues are entirely separate, with separate sets of genes. ''We have always been taught that this kind of thing couldn't happen,'' said Dr. Raymond W. Redline, a reproductive pathologist at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. ''When there is one placenta, we have assumed the twins are identical.'' The twins were conceived with in vitro fertilization, using donor eggs for implantation in a 48-year-old mother. After fertilization, the embryos were grown in a laboratory for five days, to the blastocyst stage containing 100 or more cells. Practitioners have found that pregnancy is more likely when they transfer blastocysts to a woman's uterus rather than three-day-old, eight-celled embryos. At some point, either just before or just after the embryos were transferred to the mother's womb, it seems that the outer shells of the two blastocysts may have fused, Dr. Souter said. This caused the development of only one placenta, while the embryos remained separate. As the pregnancy progressed and doctors viewed the twins with ultrasound, they assumed that the mother was carrying identical twins. But amniocentesis showed one male fetus and one female. ''Obviously, it raises a question about whether culturing the embryos for a long time in vitro could predispose for this,'' Dr. Souter said. ''But it could be completely unrelated to I.V.F. We don't know for sure.'' In an earlier case, reported in 1998 in The New England Journal, two fraternal twins conceived via I.V.F. seemed to have fused entirely, creating what researchers called a ''chimeric hermaphrodite.'' This was a child with both male and female sex organs -- a testicle and an ovary. By age 4 1/2, the child was developing as a normal, healthy boy, according to The New England Journal's study.

Mumsh, cannot be determined easily kung identical or fraternal yung twins. Pag fraternal po, they are formed by 2 separate eggs and fertilized by separate sperm cell and they have separate sacs and placenta din. Pag identical po, they came from one egg and one sperm tapos nag separate lang into 2, but then meron 3 scenarios po na pwede mangyari sa identical twins, pwedeng 2 placentas/2 sacs or 2 sacs/1placenta or 1 placenta/1 sac. Ang importante po is ma identify ng OB later on kung ilang sac or placenta ang present para mabigyan kayo ng proper care sa pregnancy. Usually pag same sex yung twins they are identical pag magkaiba yung sex nila, fraternal.

FRATERNAL YAN SIS☺ I have an identical twins. Isa lang po sac nila😊 ingat ka po mommy sa pagbubuntis mo sana umabot ka sa full term. High risk magbuntis ng twins kasi karamihan nanganganak ng maaga. Katulad ko 32weeks lang ako nanganak pero sa awa ng Diyos okay naman ang mga baby ko. God bless po😉😊

Wow❤️ congrats momshie, gustong gusto ko Rin mag karoon nang kambal, I'm 23weeks and 4days Hindi pa ako nakakapag pa ultrasound, ka pag 7 months na pwede naako mag pa ultrasound. I wish na kambal din to dinadala ko hehe 😄

Sa akin po kase identical. Pag iisa ang placenta nila na pinagkukunan identical pero pag dalawa ang placenta fraternal po un ibig sabhn di sila nanggaling sa isang egg identical po kase nabuo sila sa iisang egg lng

Hi mamshie!Fraternal twins po Kasi mgkaiba kasarian,identical twins pareho Ang kasarian.Kung Sa gender Ng babies mo 16wks.pataas pwede na malaman Yun.Congrats sau.Stay safe and God bless🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

Hindi ko masabi sis. Pero sa findings malalaman naman po kung may nakalagay kung anong klaseng twins khit di pa nababasa ni ob mo ultrasound results makikita mo naman po

Depende po yata yan kung isang placenta or magkahiwalay sila. Yung iba po magkasama sa iisang sac tapos yung iba ganyan po magkahiwalay na sac tapos magkaiba ng placenta

Wow congrats po Sana may all may kambal nasa lahi niyo po siguro yun ang kasabihan ng mga pinoy ee. Hahaha tapos sasabihin pag kumain ka daw ng kambal na saging 🤣

fraternal yan momsh. Magkaiba magkahiwalay sila ng sac kaya magkaiba din sila ng placenta. Congrats!! pag identical isa lang sac nila tas iisa din placenta nila