KOLKATA: Doctors at the state-run Burdwan Medical College - Hospital (BMCH) achieved a rare feat by delaying the delivery of a second twin by 125 days after the first twin's premature delivery at 18 weeks only.
The first twin was stillborn.
Both the mother and the newborn boy, delivered on November 14,are recovering well.After failing to conceive for years after marriage, the Pramaniks from a locality near Memari had been trying for a child through IVF.Pampa, the wife, conceived in the second attempt at an IVF centre in Kolkata in March this year.
But in the 18th week, she was rushed to BMCH on July 11 complaining of bleeding with abdominal pain.Doctors found the heartbeat of one of the twins absent and the cervical canal of the mother open, resulting in the first twin getting a spontaneous premature delivery the next day.
"We understood that this was a very precious pregnancy for the woman," said gynaecology professor Malay Sarkar under whose unit Pampa was admitted.The placenta was kept in situ with the umbilical cord tied.
A USG on the second unborn was found intact while the placenta of the first twin was found lying in the anterior wall of the uterus.
Doctors decided to keep her in the hospital for close monitoring till the second twin could be delivered in full term.A team of Malay Sarkar, Debobroto Roy, S P Roychowdhury, Krishnapada Das and Arpita Pramanik assembled at the OT along with the anaesthesia team - Sumanta Ghosh Maulik, Soumen Mandal and their PGTs.
Paediatrician Mukut Banerjee was roped in."This is a rare feat," said paediatrician Dibyendu Banerjee, past president of Bengal Obstetrics and Gynaecological Society and gynaecology head at Charnock Hospital.
Woodlands Hospital gynaecology head Ranjit Chakraborty said, "Once one of the twins comes out of the cervix and the cervical canal opens up, chances of the other twin coming out are high."Pampa will return home with her 2.9 kg bundle of joy named Safalya Pramanik on Saturday.