Berhampur (Odisha) Oct 13 A 22-year-old woman of Odisha’s Kandhamal district gave birth to rare conjoined twins at the government-run MKCG Medical College and Hospital here, doctors said on Tuesday.
The twin boys have two heads and necks and weighed 2.250 kilograms at birth, they said, adding that their health condition is not good.
The twins, kept in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), share a single trunk and two spinal columns, said Dr Manas Ranjan Sahu, head of the paediatric surgery department.
They also share a single heart and liver and have one pair of arms and legs. They have a single genitourinary tract with male external genitalia and no anal opening, Sahu said.
Doctors termed the occurrence extremely rare, seen in approximately one out of every 3 lakh births.
The twins developed respiratory problems, and their chances of survival are extremely low due to complex health conditions, they said.
“We have formed a team of doctors to treat the twins, which is perhaps the first time at the MKCG Medical College and Hospital,” said Suddepa Dash, superintendent of the medical college and hospital.
The rare twins were born on Sunday night via cesarean section. The woman’s husband is a daily labourer. She came to the medical college from Tumudibandh hospital.
Sahu said conjoined twins form from a single fertilised egg that begins to split into two individuals.
Identical twins normally split between 3 and 12 days after conception.
According to this theory, if the split happens late, the process stops before completion. The twins remain physically connected at a specific region where the embryonic disc failed to fully separate, he said.
The alternative view suggests a single fertilised egg completely splits into two embryos in the third or fourth week of development; these separate embryonic discs drift too close and accidentally reunite or fuse at specific contact points where the skin is missing or able to merge.
This causes two individuals to grow together at the site of secondary contact, sharing local tissues or organs, Sahu added.
(PTI News)
