Doctors in Delhi have successfully performed a remarkable surgery on a 17-year-old boy to remove a “parasitic” twin attached to his abdomen.
Parasitic twins are extremely uncommon developmental anomalies where an underdeveloped conjoined twin relies completely on the host twin for survival, occurring in fewer than one per 100,000 births.
The teenager had fully formed extra limbs, a pelvis, and external genitalia—weighing nearly 15kg—protruding from his abdomen. The parasitic structure was sustained by a chest artery and remarkably could sense pain, touch, and temperature changes.
Dr. Asuri Krishna, who led the surgical team at Aiims hospital, described the case as particularly challenging due to the patient’s age. “Only 40-50 cases of parasitic twins have been documented in world medical literature and, in those cases, the surgery had been attempted on children,” he told the BBC.
With limited medical precedent, the surgical team relied on their “intuition, skill and knowledge.” Their first step was determining how interconnected the parasitic and host twins were. Scans revealed the parasitic twin was attached to the teen’s breastbone and received blood from a chest vessel, though it lacked significant connection to major organs like the liver or kidneys. Doctors also discovered a large abdominal cyst.
The two-stage surgery involved removing the parasitic twin and then extracting the cystic mass. A team including radiologists, anesthesiologists, and plastic surgeons completed the procedure in approximately two-and-a-half hours, carefully separating shared blood vessels, nerves, and tissues without damaging the host’s organs.
During the operation, the teen’s blood pressure dropped dangerously as 30-40% of his blood flowed to the parasitic twin, but doctors successfully stabilized him. He was discharged after four days and has experienced no complications.
Before the surgery, the teenager’s appearance had made him a target of ridicule in his community in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, affecting his mental health and causing him to drop out of school in eighth grade.
“I couldn’t travel anywhere or do any physical activity,” he told the Indian Express. Now, the 17-year-old feels ecstatic about his future: “I hope to study and get a job. A new world has opened up to me.”
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