Twin Transfusion Syndrome

Dr. Kyprianos "Kypros" Nicolaides is one of my new favorite people. He is a Professor of Fetal Medicine, a Fetal surgeon, and one of the world’s leading experts in his field, featured on the Netflix show The Surgeon’s Cut.

During the episode he talked about something called Twin Transfusion Syndrome. As twins develop they share blood from the placenta. In this syndrome, one of the twins receives more blood than the other. The twin receiving the least blood is called the donor and the twin receiving the most blood is called the recipient.

The thing is, obviously, the twin not receiving enough blood, the donor, doesn’t do well. This “smaller” twin stops growing from a loss of blood volume, a decrease in amniotic fluid, etc… and eventual strong chance of death.

But, the twin that receives more blood doesn’t do well either. The “bigger” twin receives too much blood in which the heart can be damaged from pumping too much blood, an abnormal increase in amniotic fluid, and basically, unless something is done, also a strong chance of death. Both twins will often die.

Dr. Nicolaides developed the procedure in the early 90’s that allows him to laser some of the vessels in the placenta and redistribute the blood, which vastly increases the chances of survival of one of the twins, and often both.

I couldn’t help but be reminded of my favorite word on the planet - lagom. It’s a Swedish word which means “not too much and not too little” and has references back to the Vikings who would sit around a table with a bowl of chow and look to see how many people there were before eating - he (generally) would make sure to take an amount that would leave some for everyone else. It’s, in many ways, a foundational element of Swedish culture.

Too little is obviously bad. But so is too much, not only because it creates too little for others but because it actually harms the one getting too much. The heart can only pump so much blood.

Or the soul can only pump so much greed?

Can we get Dr. Kypros to do some surgery on our culture?