When Gail Duncan learned she was expecting identical twins and would need close monitoring, her research led her to Dr. Giancarlo Mari and the Maternal Fetal Medicine practice at Regional One Health. It was Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome, a rare condition where blood flows unevenly between twins sharing a placenta. Without treatment, Gail’s twins had a 10 percent chance of survival. “Dr. Mari started telling me the options, including a laser procedure he said was the absolute best option. This was Wednesday, and he told me, ‘I can get you in Friday.’” Gail scheduled the procedure, a Laser Ablation Placental Anastomoses, in which doctors use a camera to guide a laser through a mother’s stomach and uterus into the placenta. They laser abnormal connections, being careful not to disrupt healthy connections that benefit the babies. The carefully choreographed operation followed years of preparation. Gail was one of Regional One Health’s first maternal fetal medicine patients to undergo the twin to twin transfusion procedure. This service was made possible years earlier when the health care system worked with Dr. Mari on assembling highly-specialized equipment funded by Regional One Health Foundation donors. They added Mauro Schenone, MD, and Pedro Argoti, MD to the team, and began preparing to treat patients. They created strict standards, stating procedures must be the only way to prevent miscarriage or death, and stipulated that all surgeries be done at Regional One Health, where there are resources to protect both baby and mother. 26 Regional One Health Foundation Gunner and Garrett were born healthy at 35 weeks thanks to a high-tech procedure at Regional One Health.
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