Surgeons have successfully removed a rare parasitic twin from a teenager at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences hospital in Delhi. (Photo credit: Skaman306 via Getty Images)
Surgeons in India have performed an operation to remove a parasitic twin from a young man who had an extra pair of legs, buttocks and genitals attached to his chest.
A parasitic twin condition occurs when a conjoined twin stops developing but remains connected to the surviving twin. In this case, the parasitic twin protruded from the abdomen of a 17-year-old teenager and weighed almost 33 pounds (15 kilograms), BBC News reports.
Doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital in Delhi successfully separated the parasitic twin in a two-hour operation on February 8, according to The Indian Express. Parasitic twins are extremely rare and this case was unique as such surgeries are usually performed when the surviving twin is very young.
“There are only 40 to 50 cases of parasitic twins reported in the medical literature worldwide, and they all involve children,” Dr Asuri Krishna, who led the team in Delhi, told BBC News.
Their exact incidence is unknown, but they are estimated to occur in less than one in a million newborns, according to a 2018 study published in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery Case Reports.
Scientists aren’t sure why parasitic twins occur, but they have two main theories based on embryonic division and fusion — not to be confused with the nuclear reactions of the same name. The division theory suggests that 13 to 15 days after fertilization, the cluster of cells that form the embryo separates, according to a 2010 study published in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery. The process is similar to the one that creates identical twins, except that instead of completely separating, the two embryos remain partially joined.
The fusion theory states that two initially distinct internal cell masses merge at a later stage of development, according to the study. Either way, a parasitic twin is formed when one embryo stops developing but remains attached to the other twin.
The parasitic twin does not survive pregnancy, while the surviving twin develops fully, according to the Cleveland Clinic, a nonprofit medical organization in Ohio. In this case, the parasitic limbs experienced pain and temperature changes, BBC News reported. The surviving twin's blood supply keeps the parasitic twin alive, and the surviving twin may experience illnesses and other complications due to the need to keep it functioning, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Scans showed the parasitic twin was attached to the boy's chest and was receiving blood from a vessel in his chest. Surgeons carefully removed the parasitic twin and then a large cyst found in the boy's abdomen.
The teenager's blood pressure dropped sharply during the operation as up to 40% of his blood was transferred to the parasitic twin. However, surgeons quickly stabilised his condition and he was discharged from hospital four days after the operation, BBC News reports.
Living with a parasitic twin has been difficult for the young man, who dropped out of school. Now he is looking forward to returning to a normal life.
“I couldn’t travel anywhere or do any physical activity,” the young man told The Indian Express. “Now a new world is opening up for me. I hope to continue my studies and find a job.”
Patrick PesterNavigate Social Links
Sourse: www.livescience.com
