St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center recently hired Gregg Giannina, M.D., as the hospital's director of Fetal Surgery to care for patients undergoing high-risk pregnancies and in-utero procedures.
Dr. Giannina's specialties include fetoscopy for women who are carrying children with twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS).
TTTS is a rare disorder that occurs in-utero among identical twins.
When twins have TTTS, the blood flow in their shared placenta is uneven, causing one twin to receive too much blood and the other to receive too little.
The twin receiving an over abundance of blood may experience heart failure due to continual strain on his or her cardiovascular system.
The other twin may have a lack of fluid and an inadequate blood supply.
Dr. Giannina said that twins with severe TTTS have a poor chance of survival if left untreated.
In comparison, he says when a fetoscopy has been performed early enough in the pregnancy, the success rate of giving birth to at least one twin is as high as 80 percent.
"Our goal in doing the fetoscopy is twofold: to cure the disease and to improve the quality of life for at least one and hopefully both twins," said Dr. Giannina. "Many of the children who survive TTTS have an increased risk for cerebral palsy or other disorders. By performing a fetoscopy we work to correct the abnormal flow of blood in the placenta, increase the odds of survival and prevent certain neurological complications from occurring."
The fetoscopy is a mini-laproscopic procedure (a surgery performed with the aide of a very small camera) in which laser ablation is used in-utero to stop the abnormal blood flow in the placenta.
This rare procedure is performed by a handful of physicians around the country, and Dr. Giannina will be seeing patients from throughout the Southwest.
