Bristol Twin (BRIT) Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Bristol Twin (BRIT) Study
IRAS ID
181260
Contact name
Sarah Newell
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bristol
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 3 days
Research summary
Twin pregnancies are high-risk pregnancies with complications including prematurity, growth restriction and pre-eclampsia. Monochorionic pregnancies (MC) occur when identical twins share one placenta; this places the pregnancy at higher risk than when twins have two separate placentas.
We plan to recruit every mother with MC twins at St Michael’s Hospital over a two year period. We plan to closely monitor them, using new imaging techniques both antenatally and postnatally, to improve prediction and treatment of complications associated with MC twin pregnancies. There are three arms to the study: (i) Cardiac imaging (ii) MRI imaging to assess brain development (iii) 3D power Doppler to assess placental development.i. Cardiac imaging
Twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) complicates ~15% of MC twin pregnancies. We plan to explore novel imaging techniques to identify impending cardiac compromise, both as a tool to predict the development of TTTS, and to monitor the recovery from TTTS following laser surgery.
ii. MRI
Monochorionic twins are at increased risk of brain injury and development of the neonatal brain is poorly understood. We aim to use different MRI techniques to assess the functional development of both twins’ brains before and after birth. We aim to investigate whether brain size and development correlates with discordance in the blood flow to each twin.
iii. 3D power Doppler
This will involve the 3D reconstruction of early placental development. It is hoped that this will improve our understanding of how the shared placenta develops. Importantly it may lead to treatment strategies to reduce complications associated with MC pregnancies.
iv. Angiogenic Factors
Angiogenic factors are crucial for changes occurring in blood vessels during placental development, but nothing is known about these factors in twin pregnancies with placental abnormalities. We plan to measure these factors in maternal blood to look at the serial trend throughout the pregnancy.
REC name
South West - Central Bristol Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/SW/0230
Date of REC Opinion
8 Sep 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion