Rare conjoined twins born with two heads and three hands
What's the story
A woman has given birth to rare conjoined twin daughters with two heads and three hands at a private hospital in Odisha's Kendrapara district on Sunday, doctors said. The extremely rare conjoined twins were born to a poor farmer family. This is the second child of the woman. The newborn has two fully developed heads.
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The twins share a body and have two legs
"The newborn is eating with two mouths and breathing with two noses. The baby is actually conjoined twin sisters who share a single body, three arms, and two legs," said Dr. Debashis Sahoo, a paediatrician of the district headquarter hospital of Kendrapara.
Further treatment
The baby has been shifted to a hospital in Cuttack
The baby was delivered by cesarean section at a private hospital in Kendrapara town. Later the infant was shifted to the district headquarters hospital at Kendrapara. "The baby is physically fit now, but we have shifted the baby to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Post Graduate Institute of Paediatrics (Sishu Bhawan), Cuttack, for specialized treatment," Dr. Sahoo said.
Present condition
Condition of the conjoined twins is stable
Dr. Sahoo said the conjoined twins are a rare congenital anomaly and are joined at the chest and abdomen. "Their condition is stable at present. After an ultrasound of twins, details of the abnormality would be known," he added. Joint twins can be surgically separated if all parts of the body are different. However, these are not guaranteed to be successful.
Similar cases
Twins joined from head were separated in 2017
Conjoined twin brothers Jaga and Kalia were joined at the head from their birth in 2015. After the State Government intervened, a team of doctors of AIIMS, New Delhi conducted the country's first Craniopagus surgery. The team of doctors performed a 45-hour-long surgery in August 2017 to separate Jaga and Kalia. The latter died of septicemia in November last year.
Another case
Twins who do not want to be separated
In a separate incident, Saba and Farah, twin girls joined from head since birth have denied operation to get separated. They are around 20-years-old and live in constant fear of death. Supreme Court had previously ordered an operation to separate them which was denied by the family due to the fear of killing one of them or both.