Placental Growth Factor and Endothelial Cell-Specific Molecule 1 Levels in Discordant and Concordant Twins and Their Effects on Fetal Growth.

OBJECTIVE: We explored whether fetal twin growth was related to the levels of placental growth factor (PGF) and endothelial cell-specific molecule 1 (ESM-1) and sought correlations between cord blood PGF and ESM1 levels and birth weight discordance.

METHODS: This was a prospective study. We evaluated 79 pairs of twins, thus 158 infants. Twenty-nine (37%) twins were naturally conceived; the remaining 50 (63%) resulted from assisted reproduction.

RESULTS: Nine (11%) sets of twins were monochorionic. Eighteen of the 79 twin sets (22%) were discordant. We found a positive correlation between PGF and ESM-1 levels (r = 0.51, p = 0.001) and between discordance and PGF level (r = 0.430, p = 0.001).

CONCLUSION: The growth discordance may not be attributable to the different PGF levels, but the difference in PGF level may be a consequence.