Current view on mirror syndrome (Ballantyne’s syndrome)

Abstract

Mirror syndrome (Ballantyne syndrome) is a rare complication of pregnancy that develops on the background of fetal edema of immune or non-immune origin, in which a pregnant woman develops a clinical symptomocomplex similar to severe preeclampsia. The purpose of this review is to present a modern view on the etiopathogenesis, diagnosis and management of pregnancy, complicated by mirror syndrome. Perinatal losses in Ballantyne syndrome reach 56–67 %. The triggering factor in the development of mirror syndrome are conditions in which generalized edema of the fetus and placenta develops, which leads to the development of dropsy of the mother. Correction of the cause of fetal edema leads to regression of clinical symptoms in a pregnant woman. Specialists in the field of fetal surgery should be aware of the possibility of developing this condition during intrauterine correction of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome.