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Teratology: Teratomas & Parasitic Twins (WARNING)

Awwwwww poor Rebeca.

I am so sorry to hear about her death.

What has a little baby done to deserve this?




:sob:
 
Spotted this posted as current news but it is actually from alst year but as it hasn't been posted I'll stick it in here (esp. as I jammed it into the breaking news interface only realsiing when i was going to post the content here (ooops):

Baby born with three legs

Posted Thu, 24 Jul 2003

A baby boy born with three legs and two male organs around the hip in the St Elizabeth Hospital in Lusiksiki is to be flown to the Red Cross Children's Hospital in Cape Town on Thursday.

Eastern Cape health MEC Bevan Goqwana said the baby was born to an 18-year-old woman identified only as Tobeka on Thursday. It was her first child.

"It was supposed to be a twin delivery," Goqwana told Sapa. "The baby has one head, and around the hip it has two penises. It also has three legs as well as an undeveloped arm.

"There is also no anus."

Goqwana said the health department would pay for the flight to Cape Town as well as the hospital costs.

The baby will be accompanied by its mother and a doctor on the flight to Cape Town.
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http://iafrica.com/news/sa/256986.htm
 
Re: Included twins

Emperor said:
After watching '101 Things Found in the Human Body' the final/main one was a most impressive 'included twin' (also known as foetus in foetu - it is different from parasitic twin in that it develops inside the body) but I am having trouble tracking down any details - his name was Sanjeev and it was around 1999. He had been carrying the thing around with him for ages though.
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Blimey watched the repeat again and I am still no closer to tracking this case down!! His name is something like Sanjeev Dagget but I didn't seem them flash his name on the screen so spelling may be off slightly and nothing pops up on searches. The 101 Things microsite at C4 is also of little use:

http://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/0-9/101things/

I just score highly as a weirdo but as I was looking for a 36 year old included twin that shouldn't be any major suprise!!!

I did find a couple more interesting things - a list of foetus in foetu publications:

http://rad.usuhs.mil/medpix/medpix.html?mode=single&recnum=5028

and another paper:

Abdom Imaging. 2002 Sep-Oct;27(5):595-9.

Foetus in foetu: CT findings in two cases.

Chadha M, Aggarwal BK.

Diwan Chand Satya Pal Aggarwal Imaging Research Centre, 10-B, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi 110 001, India.

Foetus in foetu is a rare abdominal mass presenting in early childhood, which shows classic radiologic appearances that make a preoperative diagnosis certain. We present two such cases in which the diagnosis was initially established on computed tomography, which showed mature skeletal structures including vertebrae and long bones in addition to fat. The diagnosis was corroborated by plain radiography and magnetic resonance imaging in one case and confirmed operatively and histopathologically in both cases.
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There was a doco on over here about three months ago called "The Boy Who Gave Birth To His Twin". A little lad about 5 had a massively distended stomach and his folks took him to the local hospital (about 20 miles away) and had a tumour removed. At first it was thought to be a teratoma but it turned out to be a foetus in foetu. Can't remember where this all took place but it was some less developed country. Of course the boys mother was pilloried for it and her husbands family wanted her chucked out onto the streets because it was 'her fault', she was faulty in some way/not fit to be a mother/brought shame on the family.
It was very interesting and very sad but with a happy ending because the boy was thereafter fit and healthy.
 
Egyptian Doctors Remove Baby's Second Head

By Amil Khan
BENHA, Egypt (Reuters) - Egyptian doctors said they removed a second head from a 10-month-old girl suffering from one of the rarest birth defects in an operation Saturday.

Abla el-Alfy, a consultant in paediatric intensive care, told Reuters at the hospital in Benha, near Cairo, that Manar Maged was in a serious but improving condition after the procedure to treat her for craniopagus parasiticus -- a problem related to that of conjoined twins linked at the skull.

"We are still working on the baby. After surgery ... you get unstable blood pressure, you get fever. But she is stabilizing," Alfy said. "We have some improvement."

As in the case of a girl who died after similar surgery in the Dominican Republic a year ago, the second twin had developed no body. The head that was removed from Manar had been capable of smiling and blinking but not independent life, doctors said.

Video footage provided by the hospital, a national center in Egypt for children's medicine, showed Manar smiling and at ease in a cot with the dark-haired "parasitic" twin, attached at the upper left side of the girl's skull, occasionally blinking.

After the 13-hour operation, Reuters journalists saw the baby, her head swathed in bandages and body wreathed by tubes, in an intensive care ward. A separate twin sister, Noora, is healthy after initial problems with the birth on March 30.

Alfy said the 13-strong surgical team separated Manar's brain from the conjoined organ in small stages, cutting off the blood supply to the extra head while preventing increased blood flow to Manar's heart, which would have risked cardiac arrest.

Benha, 40 km (25 miles) north of Cairo, was chosen for its equipment and proximity to the girl's family. "The family of the child are from near here, we have the equipment, we assembled a team, so why not have the operation here?" she said, explaining the choice not to work in Cairo or at centers abroad with more experience with conjoined twins.

MONTHS OF PREPARATION

Alfy said Manar's skull had been reconstructed during surgery and her skin had been joined over the bone, leaving no need for further reconstructive surgery.

The doctors decided not to carry out Manar's operation soon after her birth: "We studied the babies well," Alfy said. "We had to study how the blood supply of the parasite is working."

She plans to keep Manar in intensive care for up to 10 days and remains cautious: "Things are getting better but ... at any time things can go wrong."

The condition occurs when an embryo begins to split into identical twins but fails to complete the process and one of the conjoined twins fails to develop fully in the womb.

The second twin can form as an extra limb, a complete second body lacking vital organs, or, in very rare cases, a head.

Last February, seven-week-old Rebeca Martinez died in the Dominican Republic after surgery to remove a second head.

The leader of that team, Jorge Lazareff of the University of California at Los Angeles, noted on viewing one picture of the Egyptian baby that the face of the undeveloped twin was "very well developed" compared to that in Rebeca's case.

"Rebeca ... had a more vertical sibling, whereas (in) this the second growth is tangential," he told Reuters, while noting he had not previously been aware of the Egyptian child.


02/19/05 10:48

© Copyright Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved.
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SOURCE
 
The head that was removed from Manar had been capable of smiling and blinking but not independent life, doctors said.
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from the rather disturbing picture in the linked article (my brain refuses to look at it like its real, i can't convince part of myself that its not a Photoshop, even though i know its the real thing) you can see that the parasitic face is identical to the other. If that second head has a brain in it, and is capable of reacting to the world, isn't that a second person? did they murder a cojoined twin outright? i understand its so Manar can now live a full and normal life, but the idea that the other head was a perfectly normal little girl without a body is disturbing.

of course, they could have tried to keep the second head alive artifically, with a respirator (could you give her/it a voice?) and donated blood pumped in, but living as a disembodied head is even more twisted
 
That's what I was wondering too. Did the second head have a brain? I wasn't sure. There have been cases where twins were seperated knowing one would die in order to save the life of the other one. Would she have been able to survive for a normal amount of time with the extra head? Another thing I was wondering....did they name the head?
 
I'm not super well informed on parasitic twins, but isn't the idea for removing them mainly that they utilize blood, oxygen, etc. from the fully-formed twin, thereby putting excessive stress on the organs of the fully-formed twin?

I believe I have also read that in the cranial cases, the fully-formed twin can sometimes become unable to develop properly due to the weight of having an extra head. Makes sense. It would be hard to sit up, walk, etc. when the top part of you weighs so incredibly much more than it should.

Sorry I can't be more helpful with links and whatnot, but "parasitic twins" is something that isn't really safe to search at work. I've noticed the phrase does tend to send you to odd parts of the internet sometimes.
 
I once red a story of a man (not sure when it was set, 17th-18th century I think) with a head at the back of his neck. He was a young nobleman and he carried his 'twins' face around with him. When he was growing up he grew his hair long to cover it but it would be awake and it would whisper evil things to him and laugh manically. Tragically, he was driven to suicide by the torments of his unescapable nemesis. He threw himself off the roof of his house and drowned in its moat.
 
rjm said:
I once red a story of a man (not sure when it was set, 17th-18th century I think) with a head at the back of his neck. He was a young nobleman and he carried his 'twins' face around with him. When he was growing up he grew his hair long to cover it but it would be awake and it would whisper evil things to him and laugh manically. Tragically, he was driven to suicide by the torments of his unescapable nemesis. He threw himself off the roof of his house and drowned in its moat.
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i've seen that same quote/story... but how could a face on the back of your head have eyes, a jaw structure, toungue, etc
i think its feasible that the human body could produce a terratomal face on the back of the head, but it would be all skin, the skull just wouldn't support it

perhaps he did have something like that, and other problems made him schizophrenic (if you're body produces a second face, there are probably other chemical/hormonal problems), so he THOUGHT the other face was talking to him, thus driving him to suicide
 
Its in the Book of Lists - I'll dig it out.

----------------
Another sad story:

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Bizarre baby born with extra body parts dies

By Jun Felciano

A SEVEN-month-old pre-mature baby was born freak -- having the unusual look similar to an alien to poor parents of Barangay Tumaga, this city, Tuesday night.

The baby, who died after about an hour when delivered at the Zamboanga City Medical Center (ZCMC) by her 24-year-old mother, Evelyn Ataca, through Caesarean procedure, possessed an extra pair of legs, two nostrils, two mouths, two buttocks, one of its two eyes centered at the forehead, but with only one heart, one head and one chest.

"Of course, abnormal and pre-mature, the baby survived only for an hour. We could not really explain," admitted Dr. Gay Gonzales, OB-Gynecology Department head, of the ZCMC, when interviewed Wednesday night by a dxMR Radyo ng Bayan announcer.

Although, the mother's attending physician confirmed the baby's gender to be female, her tiny form also had two sex organs.

"There were two sex organs, because apparently they were supposed to be twins, but were joined in the waist," Gonzales described the supposed conjoined babies.

Relatives said Evelyn looked normal during her conceiving period, as she never craved for any urge for a particular delicacy that could have affected her baby.

When she underwent an ultra-sound after she complained of stomach pain, she was advised to see a doctor last February 7. It was then she discovered that she was carrying a twin, Gonzales said.

According to Gonzales, at 5:00 p.m., last February 22, her bag of water ruptured, she was admitted at the hospital and was made to undergo a Caesarean procedure because of premature delivery.

"So, when the baby was delivered that was the presentation. She was abnormal," Gonzales narrated.

Gonzales said had the mother undergone the normal four-time pre-natal check-up procedure, the weird delivery could have been avoided.

She advised prospective mothers to strictly comply with the required pre-natal check-ups, "as early as their miss-period" to avoid any possible abnormalities "during the crucial period of organ development."

The young mother, according to Gonzales, had admitted that her family had a history of twinning.

'"What puzzled us is that despite her denial of any possible attempt to abort the baby by taking drugs as they wanted the baby, the baby came out abnormal. This is the first time ever to happen in the hospital. This case is reportable, and we'll investigate this by asking more details from the mother as to her history," Gonzales said.

The baby would have been her mother's first-born child. But the obstetrics head assured the young mother has nothing to worry for her next child delivery, as her bitter past will not affect her condition.

Other local medical experts, when reached for comment, considered the rare birth as the first of its kind recorded in their books, perhaps, the first ever even known in this modern world.

City Mayor Celso Lobregat, who visited the mother at the hospital, promised to shoulder all medication expenses incurred by the family for the mother's fast recovery. The unnamed child was buried Wednesday.

Concerned authorities recommended the medical profession to conduct further study on the child case for its official findings as to what really caused her abnormalities. (Jun Feliciano)

(February 24, 2005 issue)
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Source
 
CoffeeJedi said:
rjm said:
I once red a story of a man (not sure when it was set, 17th-18th century I think) with a head at the back of his neck. He was a young nobleman and he carried his 'twins' face around with him. When he was growing up he grew his hair long to cover it but it would be awake and it would whisper evil things to him and laugh manically. Tragically, he was driven to suicide by the torments of his unescapable nemesis. He threw himself off the roof of his house and drowned in its moat.
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i've seen that same quote/story... but how could a face on the back of your head have eyes, a jaw structure, toungue, etc
i think its feasible that the human body could produce a terratomal face on the back of the head, but it would be all skin, the skull just wouldn't support it

perhaps he did have something like that, and other problems made him schizophrenic (if you're body produces a second face, there are probably other chemical/hormonal problems), so he THOUGHT the other face was talking to him, thus driving him to suicide
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Emperor said:
Its in the Book of Lists - I'll dig it out.
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Yep the first Book of Lists.

He is Edward Mordake and has already been mentioned in this thread and in his own thread where there is more info:

forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9016
Link is obsolete. The current link is:
https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/edward-mordake.9016/
 
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ElKrafto said:
Did anyone ever see the movie "Basket Case?" It is about a parasitic twin who gets removed, and then goes on a killing spree. Sort of the same idea, I guess. Except for the killing spree bit.
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I saw Basket Case years ago... that was the most wonderfully demented movie! I have never heard of any one else who has seen it...

Another pop-culture reference to parasitic twins is on South Park episode 205, the Conjoined Fetus Lady.
 
Girl Who Had 2nd Head Removed Goes Home

Saturday May 28, 2005 10:53pm

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - A baby girl who underwent surgery to remove a second head that was sharing a blood vessel with her brain has been released from the hospital, her doctors said Saturday. Manar Maged was born March 30, 2004, with a rare birth defect, craniopagus parasiticus, that occurs when an embryo begins to split into identical twins but fails to complete the process, leaving an undeveloped conjoined twin in the womb. Manar also has a healthy twin sister.

"God has blessed us, this is a day of happiness for us, the girl is very well and she'll be going home today," said Dr. Naseif Hefnawi, director of Benha Neonatal Hospital.

There were 10 previous cases like Manar's throughout the world when she underwent surgery on Feb. 19, and Manar was the only one to have survived the procedure, Hefnawi said.

"The important thing is, the girl is improving day by day, her eyes are focussing more, anything she needs, day or night, will be available," Hefnawi said.

Manar slept in her mother's arms as the hospital's doctors applauded the news.

Hefnawi said the 14-hour surgery, carried out in the Nile Delta town of Benha, some 25 miles north of Cairo, was the first of its kind in the Middle East.

------------------------
Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press.
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Source
 
That girl has been in the hospital all this time?! Poor thing. At least she's ok.
 
just a couple of things...

i've seen the movie basket case. for anyone that hasn't (and i don't want to give too much detail) it's along the lines of a parasitic twin removed, consisting of the upper torso, arms and head. wonderfully cheesy, bizarre 80's horror.

the "zombie" babies mentioned much earlier in the thread, from the description, sound much like harlequin ichthyosis. if so, i don't really care to look. :shock: the skin sheds at an accelerated rate, much faster than the body can create new layers, so it becomes much like leather. the eyes may only be blood red globes, the lips swollen, cracked and "fishlike". they rarely ever survive birth, and if they do manage that they're still not likely to survive much longer. i've read of only two cases of survivors, both now teenagers i believe. for those strong enough to view, a google image search will provide more disturbing images than a clive barker novel on lsd.

Discussion of ichthyosis can be pursued in this thread:

Harlequin & Lamellar Ichthyosis (Rare Skin-Shedding Disorders)
https://forums.forteana.org/index.p...chthyosis-rare-skin-shedding-disorders.22395/
 
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I own all the Basketcase movies, (yes there was more than one). An oddly met the writer at a party once. Interesting fellow.
I've always been obsessed reading about parasitic twin syndromes. Highly interesting stuff.
Also, the two headed guy in the fortean gallery did indeed have a tumor atop his head. He was taken in by a man who had a metal (silver?) plate placed under the top of the tumor to make it look like a face. He performed in carnival sideshows until he began to be sickened by the plate. Wherein it was removed and he had to subsequently quit the sideshows.
Hope that helps.
 
Doctors 'find dead foetus in boy'

Doctors in Bangladesh say they have removed a long-dead foetus from the abdomen of a teenage boy who was complaining of stomach pains.
They said the foetus would have become the boy's twin had it grown normally in their mother's womb.

They said it was a case of an extremely rare condition where two foetuses are conceived as conjoined twins but one absorbs the other.

In 2003 Kazakhstan doctors removed a foetus from a seven-year-old boy.

Limbs developed

Sixteen-year-old Abu Raihan was admitted to the Bangabandhu Medical University hospital in the capital, Dhaka on Saturday.

"After the operation we found a dead foetus weighing two kilograms (4.5lbs) in his abdomen," Doctor MA Mazid said, the AFP news agency reports.

"Apart from the head, all other limbs of the baby were developed."

The condition is known as "foetus in foeto", or inclusion twin.

"In this case the foetus of the baby entered into the foetus of the boy and continued to grow like a tumour in the boy's abdomen," gynaecology specialists Nurun Nahar said.

Hundreds of curious locals flocked to the hospital on hearing a rumour that a boy had given birth to a baby.

In April, 2003, doctors at Chimkent Children's Hospital in Kazakhstan discovered the dead foetus of a twin brother when operating on a seven-year-old boy.

The foetus had developed into a tumour but was found to have hair, nails and bones.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/w ... 624307.stm
Published: 2005/06/26 13:52:04 GMT

© BBC MMV
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There is even a piccie with this one:

“Alien” Embryo Removed From 35-Year-Old Man’s Back

Created: 16.01.2006 16:09 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 16:09 MSK, 12 hours 8 minutes ago

MosNews

A 35-year-old tractor operator, Igor Namyatov, has undergone surgery to be relieved of what had initially been diagnosed as a tumor, but turned out to be the embryo of his unborn twin brother, the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily reported Monday.

Doctors said the embryo belonged to Namyatov’s unborn brother who had spent 35 years in the body of the patient.

Namyatov’s fellow villagers doubted the explanation given by the doctors. Some even surmised the object removed from Namyatov’s body was an extraterrestrial organism. “It is a pity they have removed it. They should have waited to see what would become of it later on. That would have been a great scientific find,” one of the villagers said.

The “little brother” first made himself known when Igor was 15. At that time the boy complained about pains in his back, but doctors played down his complaints saying it was only a harmless fatty tumor.

Twenty years later the pains came back. The doctors decided to operate at once. They were genuinely surprised to see that the tumor was in fact an embryo with little legs and hands.

A forensic expert summoned to the village to investigate refused to probe the incident saying it was clear anyway that the object was an underdeveloped embryo.

Igor Namyatov refused to leave the embryo at the hospital for further research.
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http://mosnews.com/news/2006/01/16/brother.shtml
 
Great article based on the Bodyshock show tonight:

Recent cases of conjoined twins

Manar Maged, born 30 March 2004, Aghur, Egypt

(as seen in Channel 4's Bodyshock: Born With Two Heads 20 February, 9pm)

Manar Maged was born with a rare condition called craniopagus parasiticus, making her a a type of conjoined twin. Craniopagus refers to the twins being joined at the head (see Types of Conjoined Twins). Parasiticus describes the way that one twin is completely dependent upon the other. The condition occurs when an embryo begins to split into identical twins but fails to complete the process – as a result one of the conjoined twins is not properly developed.

Twins born joined at the head are extremely rare, accounting for one in every 2.5 million births. Parasitic twins like Manar's case are even rarer. Manar's condition has only been recorded 10 times in medical history.

The underdeveloped twin, attached to the upper left side of Manar's skull, has a brain but no body and depends entirely on Manar for survival. Despite having no lungs and being unable to breathe, her second head displays signs of independent consciousness. It blinks, tries to suckle and even smiles and cries. But the weight of the underdeveloped twin put a tremendous strain on Manar's heart, and would prevent her from crawling or sitting upright. Doctors felt that the only hope for Manar was separation from her twin.

The 13-hour operation was carried out in the town of Benha, 25 miles north of Cairo, and was the first of its kind in the Middle East. Manar's prognosis is good. Following surgery, she showed no signs of paralysis and could move her limbs. Doctors are monitoring her recovery for other signs of brain damage.

After the surgery, Manar's conjoined twin was buried; the family named her Islaam.

The case raises interesting questions about the nature of identity. At what point does the 'parasitic' twin in cases such as this develop an individual identity of its own? When it has a brain? A face? A beating heart? If it is capable of independent thought or movement? When should we stop viewing it as an additional part of one child's body and instead see it as another child, if a severely disabled one? See To Separate Or Not? for other challenging questions raised by cases of this kind.



Laleh and Ladan Bijani, born 17 January 1974, Firouzabad, Iran

Iranian sisters Ladan and Laleh Bijani had been conjoined at the head since birth. For as long as they could remember, they wanted to live as separate individuals. Both women studied law at Tehran University; Ladan wanted to be a lawyer, while Laleh had plans to become a journalist. The surgery to separate them took place at a hospital in Singapore in July 2003. It was the first time surgeons tried to separate adult siblings joined at the head. The major problem facing surgeons attempting this operation is to ensure that the blood supply to both brains is maintained at all times. Laleh and Ladan had been warned before the surgery that they had only a 50:50 chance of surviving the surgery, but both were determined to proceed despite the risks.

As the operation progressed, it became clear that separation would be more complex than anticipated. After 29 years of sharing the same skull cavity, the twins' brains had fused together, and to separate them would involve cutting through their brain tissue millimetre by millimetre. The procedure was further complicated because the blood circulation between the twins was unstable. They were finally separated after 53 hours, but the twins suffered particularly heavy loss of blood, causing their circulatory systems to fail. Doctors tried to save the women by giving them emergency transfusions, but an hour after separation Ladan died. Her sister Laleh died 90 minutes later.

The case prompted debate over the ethics of separation. Should the operation have gone ahead when the risks were so great, or should the wishes of the twins and quality of life issues take precedence?



'Jodie' and 'Mary', born 2000, Manchester UK

'Jodie' and 'Mary' were the pseudonyms used for Gracie and Rosie Attard, whose parents came to the UK from the Maltese island of Gozo for their birth. The twins were joined at the lower abdomen and spine, but because they had only one functional heart and one set of lungs, separation meant the inevitable death of one twin. 'Mary'/Rosie was described as having 'primitive brain functions', while 'Jodie'/Gracie showed normal mental development. If left unseparated, both would have died. Their parents opposed separation because as Roman Catholics they believed that it was wrong to take human life. The case sparked an intense legal debate over:

* the ethics of separation
* the rights of parents and the courts in deciding the children's future.

The Court of Appeal ruled that the girls be separated and the operation took place when they were three months old. As expected, Rosie died. Gracie has made good progress, and should be able to lead a normal life.



Esther and Stella Alphonce, born 1999, Tanzania

The girls, joined at the spine, were born by Caesarean section. Their parents had no idea that they were expecting conjoined twins. The girls were treated at the Red Cross Children's Hospital in Cape Town, world experts in separation. Although Lucy, the mother, loved her twins just as they were, and was extremely afraid of the risks of separation, she agreed with the doctor's strong opinion that separation was essential because of the poor quality of life the girls could expect if left together. Separation involved parting the fused spinal cords, a procedure which had never been attempted before and which carried the risk that one or both might be left paralysed or incontinent. Both girls moved their legs within hours of the operation, indicating that the cords had been successfully divided. In June 2001, eleven months after their operation, they returned to their village in southern Tanzania, both healthy and happy, and learning to walk.


Ja'Nishia and Ja'Lishia Lewis, born 1994, USA

Before her twins were born, Josie Lewis was told that they had little chance of surviving beyond birth, because they shared an abnormal heart with only a single ventricle. When born, the girls were stronger than anticipated. Separation was mooted at birth and when the girls were five, but one twin would be sacrificed and there was no guarantee that the other would survive. Their mother refused to jeopardise either of the girls. Their frail heart eventually gave way under the strain of supporting two bodies, and they died aged six.


Abigail and Brittany Hensel, born 1990, midwest USA

A very rare, dicephalus pair, they have separate heads and necks, but share one torso and a pair of legs. Each has her own heart and stomach, and controls the limbs and feels sensation exclusively on her own side. They share three lungs and, below the waist, a single set of organs. Physically they move as one, in perfect co-ordination. Mentally they are independent, with different preferences and abilities. Their parents are opposed to separation, which would be highly dangerous. Even if successful, the girls would be left severely disabled, and unable to enjoy walking, running, swimming and bike riding which, together, they can do easily.


Amy and Angela Lakeberg, born 1993, Chicago

The girls were born with a joined heart and liver. Their heart was flawed, and the twins could not have survived together in the long term. Surgery involved sacrificing the weaker Amy in order to save Angela, whose chances of survival after surgery were also poor. The hospital where they were delivered advised against separation, but eventually the Children's Hospital in Philadelphia decided that there was an ethical obligation to attempt surgery in spite of the poor prognosis. Amy died during the operation and Angela lived only until 10 months, when she died of pneumonia. This case raised many issues about the separation of conjoined twins:

* Should separation have been attempted at all, knowing that one twin would certainly die and the other was unlikely to survive?
* Did the mere fact that surgical procedures existed mean that surgeons felt bound to operate, whatever the result?



Hassan and Hussein Abdulrehman, born 1986, Sudan

The boys, extensively joined at the chest and pelvis, were successfully separated at eight months by Professor Lewis Spitz at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. In infancy, Hassan was the weaker, and the boys' parents were told that he was unlikely to survive. Now teenagers, Hussein has the quieter personality, and Hassan is more outgoing. The boys had just two legs between them, and shared many organs. In surgery they were each given one leg, and skin from a useless third leg was used to cover their wounds. The boys are very close, but have no recollection of being joined. Despite undergoing numerous operations, and being left with some disabilities, they feel lucky and proud to have been separated.



Elisa and Lisa Hansen, born 1978, USA

These girls were the first pair joined at the brain to be successfully separated, in an operation performed in Salt Lake City by Drs Ted Roberts and Marion Walker. As infants, the girls co-ordinated their movements, with one crawling backwards as the other crawled forwards. Separation, at 19 months, took place in gradual stages, to allow their brains time to acclimatise. Lisa was left with significant brain damage and uses a wheelchair, while Elise is more able-bodied. Now adults, the twins lead happy lives with their family near Salt Lake City.



Anna and Barbara Rozycki, born 1970, Coventry, UK

Born joined at the breastbone and liver, the girls were immediately taken to Birmingham Children's Hospital where Dr Keith Roberts, now retired, separated them. Their birth was extremely traumatic for their mother, who endured 72 hours of labour and nearly died, and who never saw her daughters joined together. The twins are identical, and each has a scar from the separation, but neither has any physical disability. Both feel that they have a bond that is deeper than that between ordinary twins. 'Even as toddlers we had a special bond,' says Anna. 'If one of us gets ill, so does the other one. If one is upset, the other feels it. We are definitely two parts of the same whole.'



Lori and Reba Schappell, born 1961, Pennsylvania

The only pair of unseparated adult twins alive today with a join at the top of the head. They have separate brains and thought processes, but share some tissue and blood supply, making separation impossible. Reba is much shorter than Lori, and sits on a wheeled stool, which Lori navigates. Institutionalised as children, they have fought against the label of 'mental handicap' and now live successfully in the outside world, without help. Their personalities and interests are very different, but the twins love each other and say they don't want to be separated. They object to the assumption that such close proximity makes their life unbearable. 'Assume it's not difficult,' says Lori, 'until we tell you it is'.



Masha and Dasha Krivoshlyapova, born 1950, Moscow

The twins have two heads and trunks, four arms, and three legs. At birth they were taken away from their mother, and she was told that they had died. The third leg, emerging from their back, was amputated when they were about 10 years old. For their first 40 years they were incarcerated in degrading Soviet institutions. Archive film of them as babies shows their responses being cruelly tested with razors and pins. Until the age of six they were kept in a cot, hardly able to talk, use the toilet or feed themselves. They now live just outside Moscow in a home for war veterans, but are derided by the Russian press and people, who give them no sympathy or understanding. Only a handful of people care about them. Dasha finds the abuses they suffer particularly hard to tolerate. She suffers from depression and alcoholism, and Masha has now become alcoholic too.
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www.channel4.com/health/microsites/H/he ... cases.html
 
Just seen the Channel 4 doc. There's something about the pace of these type of programmes that slightly irritates me - too much repetition or unnecessary voiceover. We got an ad break just five minutes into the programme!


On this subject, I always remember, many years ago , in the 70s , in my local library, was a remakable book with accounts and illustrations of extra faces, heads and limbs etc called "Victorian Grotesque"

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Abigail and Brittany Hensel, born 1990, midwest USA

A very rare, dicephalus pair, they have separate heads and necks, but share one torso and a pair of legs. Each has her own heart and stomach, and controls the limbs and feels sensation exclusively on her own side. They share three lungs and, below the waist, a single set of organs. Physically they move as one, in perfect co-ordination. Mentally they are independent, with different preferences and abilities. Their parents are opposed to separation, which would be highly dangerous. Even if successful, the girls would be left severely disabled, and unable to enjoy walking, running, swimming and bike riding which, together, they can do easily.
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I thought this was fascinating - I've never heard of anything like this. Does anyone have any more information about these remarkable young women?
 
They sound rather like the Tocci Brothers who are on the cover of Bondeon's "The Two-Headed Boy" although they are joined slightly higher (as the Tocci Brothers have all 4 arms) - they have their own Wikipedia page with piccie:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abigail_an ... any_Hensel

Also:

Dicephalus: two heads, one body with two legs and two, three, or four arms (dibrachius, tribrachius or tetrabrachius, respectively. Abigail and Brittany Hensel, 16-year-old conjoined twins from the United States, are of the dicephalus tribrachius type.
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The Toccis were dicephalus tetrabrachius.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjoined_twins

Good entry too!!

The Two-Headed Boy, and Other Medical Marvels
Jan Bondeson
www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/08014 ... ntmagaz-21
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0801489 ... enantmc-20

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Interesting documentary and a rather unpleasant dilemma. One does wonder about the head of the hospital though - there always seems to be some kind of character hanging around trying to get maximum TV exposure in these cases.
 
Mighty_Emperor said:
Girl Who Had 2nd Head Removed Goes Home

Saturday May 28, 2005 10:53pm

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - A baby girl who underwent surgery to remove a second head that was sharing a blood vessel with her brain has been released from the hospital, her doctors said Saturday. Manar Maged was born March 30, 2004, with a rare birth defect, craniopagus parasiticus, that occurs when an embryo begins to split into identical twins but fails to complete the process, leaving an undeveloped conjoined twin in the womb. Manar also has a healthy twin sister.

"God has blessed us, this is a day of happiness for us, the girl is very well and she'll be going home today," said Dr. Naseif Hefnawi, director of Benha Neonatal Hospital.

There were 10 previous cases like Manar's throughout the world when she underwent surgery on Feb. 19, and Manar was the only one to have survived the procedure, Hefnawi said.

"The important thing is, the girl is improving day by day, her eyes are focussing more, anything she needs, day or night, will be available," Hefnawi said.

Manar slept in her mother's arms as the hospital's doctors applauded the news.

Hefnawi said the 14-hour surgery, carried out in the Nile Delta town of Benha, some 25 miles north of Cairo, was the first of its kind in the Middle East.

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Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press.
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Source
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I'm afraid she didn't make it on the long haul :(

Two-head girl dies of infection

An Egyptian girl who survived an operation to remove a second head has died from a brain infection.

Manar Maged suffered from a rare condition that occurs when an embryo splits in the womb but does not develop fully into a twin.

Her second head could smile and blink, but could not survive independently.

Doctors in Cairo operated on Manar in February 2005, when she was aged just 10 months. She died, aged two, after being rushed to hospital with a fever.

"She was admitted to hospital in a very bad way," said Abla el-Alfy, a consultant paediatrician involved in her care.

"She had a very severe infection in the brain and she wasn't able to fight it."

Doctors at the Benha Children's Hospital had regarded the fact that Manar survived the initial 13-hour operation as a success.

Her condition improved after the surgery, but she continued to suffer regular infections, Mr Alfy told Reuters news agency.

The second head contained eyes, a nose and a mouth, but was not connected to any internal organs and was not capable of independent thought.

Known as craniopagus parasiticus, the condition is one of the rarest forms of birth defects.

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Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/4848164.stm

Published: 2006/03/26 22:11:04 GMT

© BBC MMVI
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Bizarre baby born in Dolakha

By Rajendra Manandhar

Charikot, Dolakha, March 29 - The birth of a bizarre-looking baby in Charikot, the headquarters of Dolakha district, on Wednesday, drew a huge number of onlookers to witness the astonishing sight.

The neck-less baby with its head almost totally sunk into the upper part of the body and with extraordinarily large eyeballs literally popping out of the eye-sockets, was born to Nir Bahadur Karki and Suntali Karki at the Gaurishnkar Hospital in Charikot.

The Karki couple is a permanent resident of Dolakha’s Bhirkot VDC.

The bizarre baby, however, died after half an hour of its birth, Suntali, the mother, informed. It was taken to the hospital after its death.

The news about such a baby being brought to the hospital spread like wildfire and there were hundreds gathered at the hospital to have a look. The police had to be deployed to control the crowd.

“We wouldn’t have been able to save it, even if it had been brought here alive,” said a nurse attending to the mother at the hospital, “This is an extremely abnormal case.”

The “baby” weighed 2kg at birth and was born after the normal nine-month gestation period.

Suntali, already a mother of two normal daughters, was not suffering from any illness during the pregnancy.

Nir Bahadur, the father, says he does not feel any remorse for the newly-born baby’s death. “I am happy that nothing happened to my wife,” he said.

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Posted on: 2006-03-29 09:19:53 (Server Time)
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Has pictures but they may upset some:
www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=69722
 
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