A 21-year-old woman, Fidan, and her 24-year-old husband, Mehmet Kerim Akpolat, residing in Ağrı, were informed at a local hospital that they were expecting twins.

Upon discovering that one of the monozygotic twins had kidney abnormalities, the couple sought further medical advice at the recommendation of their physician and was referred to our University's Faculty of Medicine Hospital.

Prof. Dr. Ali Acar, a faculty member in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at our University's Faculty of Medicine Hospital, decided to intervene in utero after conducting thorough examinations.

After preparing with his team, Acar successfully performed the high-risk surgery on the 140-gram fetus, who was 16 weeks and 4 days old.

Both Babies Were at Risk of Being Lost

Prof. Dr. Acar stated that the risk was high due to the babies being small and twins.

Emphasizing that the babies were relieved after the carefully performed surgery by his team, Prof. Dr. Acar explained: "One of the monozygotic twins had a distended urinary bladder and was heading towards renal failure. The urinary bladder was twice the size of the head. Both babies were at risk of being lost. We decided to proceed with surgery. A 'shunt,' a thin, long, elastic Teflon catheter, was placed with one end in the urinary bladder and the other end outside the baby's abdomen, allowing the child to expel urine. In the final images, the kidneys were relieved, and the urinary bladder returned to normal. This is a rare condition in monozygotic twins, and the risk is higher compared to other pregnancies."

The father, Akpolat, expressed that he was overwhelmed with indescribable emotions and thanked the surgical team.

We thank Anadolu Agency and Abdullah Doğan.