The Authors have studied the case of abortive quintuplets born in Taranto, Italy, on June 15, 1952, as the ninth parturition of a 35 years old woman, with a history of twin heredity on the father’s side.
According to anamnesis and to objective examination, the fetuses appear to have five months of intrauterine life. On the basis of sexes (two males and three females) and of the annexes’ findings, the hypothesis of a trizygotic quintuplet set is suggested. Concerning the hereditary mechanism of twinning the Authors state that the genetic twinning factor (G factor) is not specific either by quality (MZ, DZ) or by quantity of the twins it produced.
As far as the age estimate of the twin fetuses is concerned, they state that the diagnosis, rather than on quantity data, is to be based on the quality ones, and specially on the ossification -nuclei detected by X-rays.