Mumbai: Rare conjoined twins born with separate brains, Sion doctors say both currently stable

A CT scan and an MRI conducted on Thursday showed the boys have a heart, a set of kidneys, a liver, an abdomen and a pelvis in common. The lungs, however, have been detected attached with only one boy. According to doctors, the spinal cord, face and brain are the only parts separate for both babies. “In medical literature, we have seen only two such cases where one baby has survived when twins had a fused common heart,” said Sion hospital’s head of pediatric surgery Dr Paras Kothari.

The babies have two legs and three hands. “When they are asleep, we will pinch each limb to check which baby wakes up or reacts. Based on our understanding of whether one baby has all sets of limbs intact, we will proceed to separate him from the second,” Kothari added.

According to head of neonatology at the hospital, Dr Y S Nandanwar, the 26-year-old mother, Shahin Khan, is stable and recuperating.

Father Irshad Khan, a 28-year-old cobbler who works at Dadar station, lives in a chawl in Sion. The couple has two daughters, aged four and two. Economic conditions prevented them from undergoing diagnostic tests early into the pregnancy.

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This is the first time twins with a common heart have been born in Mumbai. A team of neonatologist, neurologist and pediatric surgeons are monitoring them for 72 hours before a surgery can be decided upon. “It is quite a complex case,” said hospital dean Dr Suleman Merchant.

The defect in the twins was found when the mother was 32 weeks pregnant and underwent her first sonography test at Sion hospital.“Generally, after a month’s pregnancy, conjoined twins can be found through sonography. It is usually advised to counsel the parents about risk factors and complications,” said Dr Bhupendra Awasthi, director of Surya Childcare.

According to him, it is possible for a baby among the conjoined pair to survive even without lungs. “If their heart is fused, the baby without lungs is still receiving fresh blood from common heart,” Awasthi said.

According to former president of Federation of Gynaecologists and Obstetrics Society of India, Dr Suchitra Pandit, in about 20 per cent cases, pregnant women do not opt for an anomalies scan before 20 weeks of gestation period. “Specially among underprivileged patients, we notice women do not undergo sonography. In our guidelines, we have requested all public health centres to focus on maternal and child health,” Pandit said.

According to Nandanwar, while the woman was diagnosed with conjoined babies in her 32nd week, the delivery was scheduled after completion of 37th week.“All ante-natal scans have been completed. Both the babies are stable for now,” Nandanwar said.