Conjoined twin brothers are fighting for their life after being born sharing the same torso because of a rare one-in-a-million medical condition.
A woman gave birth to a baby boy with two heads at a hospital in Tonk, about 90 km form Jaipur early Wednesday morning.
The brothers are thought to suffer an extremely rare form of twin conjoinment – dicephalic parapagus. It means only one body develops in the womb and because they share it, they can never be properly separated.
They have two heads and a conjoined body from the neck area. Besides that they have two separate back bones that join at the pelvis and two nervous systems.
The twins’ organs are quite complex. After a preliminary check-up doctors found they have an attached heart, a single stomach and two wind pipes. Doctors are in the process of running more tests to see establish whether any other organs are shared or conjoined.
According to doctors at J.K. Lone Hospital, in Jaipur City, though the twins appear to be inoperable, they are still optimistic about their survival rates.
Dr. S.D. Sharma, medical superintendent of J.K. Lone Hospital stated, “We have constituted an expert team and they are examining the twins under my supervision to find out the possible course of treatment.”
Dicephalic parapagus twins
As per medics, dicephalic parapagus twins are extremely rare and occur when a fertilised egg cell fails to divide. Apparently not all conjoined twins can be separated and many can live together normally.
If the twins show the ability to survive, they are allowed to live peacefully together, however if scan finds more abnormalities, there is need to operate to separate them. In such cases sometimes the weaker twin can be sacrificed to save the other.
However, if both the twins are in bad shape and have complex defects it may lead to mortality. In such cases, the twins can survive for three or four weeks.
There have only been a few instances of dicephalic parapagus twins being born. According to doctors, this is only the third known case in India and the first ever in Rajasthan.
