conjoined twins
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AI overview
Conjoined twins are identical twins whose bodies are physically joined together from birth, occurring when a single fertilized egg fails to fully separate during development in the womb. This condition is rare and medically significant because it can affect vital organs and often requires careful surgical planning to determine if the twins can be safely separated.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- Other names
- Siamese twin
- Specialty
- Medical genetics
- Symptoms
- Bodies fused
- Complications
- Depends on type
- Usual onset
- Beginning of pregnancy
- Duration
- Lifelong
- Types
- See article
- Causes
- Incomplete fission
- Treatment
- Surgery , symptomatic care
- Prognosis
- Depends on type; occasionally may survive
via Wikipedia infobox
Research
2,420 papersvia PubMed
Article
Conjoined twins (War Remnants Museum) Conjoined twins, popularly referred to as Siamese twins, are twins joined in utero. It is a very rare phenomenon, estimated to occur in anywhere between one in 50,000 births to one in 200,000 births, with a somewhat higher incidence in southwest Asia and Africa. Approximately half are stillborn, and an additional one-third die within 24 hours. Most live births are female, with a ratio of 3:1.
Two possible explanations of the cause of conjoined twins have been proposed. The one that is generally accepted is fission, in which the fertilized egg splits partially. The other explanation, no longer believed to be accurate, is fusion, in which the fertilized egg completely separates, but stem cells (that search for similar cells) find similar stem cells on the other twin and fuse the twins together. Conjoined twins and some monozygotic, but not conjoined, twins share a single common chorion, placenta, and amniotic sac in utero.