What is TAPS?

“What is TAPS?” This is a very critical question asked by parents around the world.  They are pregnant with twins, triplets, or higher order multiples and have either just been diagnosed by their doctor during their pregnancy or their babies have been diagnosed at birth.  If they are in the care of an educated high risk doctor (Maternal-Fetal Medicine Specialist) they may have just been told their babies are at risk, which is exactly what we are fighting for doctors to do.  Twin anemia polycythemia sequence is a rare, chronic form of twin to twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) where the babies are sharing blood vessels in their single monochorionic placenta.  However, unlike classic TTTS, babies with TAPS are disproportionately sharing red blood cells only, not the volume of blood that causes amniotic fluid problems clearly seen in TTTS.  The best way to diagnose or rule out TAPS during pregnancy is with the use of MCA Dopplers (middle cerebral artery) in the brains of the babies to measure the speed of blood and reticulocyte levels at delivery.