Craniopagus parasiticus

Craniopagus parasiticus
Drawing of a skull of a child born in 1783 in Bengal, affected by craniopagus parasiticus

Craniopagus parasiticus is an extremely rare type of

Development

The exact development of craniopagus parasiticus is not well known. However, it is known that the underdeveloped twin is a

One hypothesis is that craniopagus parasiticus starts with the development of two fetuses from a single zygote that fail to separate at the head region around the second week of gestation.[1] Another is that it occurs later in development, around the fourth week of gestation, at which time the two embryos fuse together near the anterior open neuropore.^[1]

A third hypothesis is that there is joining of the somatic and placental vascular system of the twins, as well as a degeneration of the umbilical cord of the parasitic twin. This suggests that craniopagus parasiticus develops due to the lack of blood supply to one of the twins.^[4]

Diagnosis

Related conditions

In addition to craniopagus parasiticus, a few other conditions involve a child's, or animal's, birth with two heads or faces.

Dicephalic parapagus

Few individuals survive until birth. For those who do, the only treatment available is to surgically remove the parasitic twin. Of the two documented attempts, however, one child died within hours and neither reached their second birthday. ^[citation needed] The problem with surgical intervention is that the arterial supplies of the head are so intertwined that it is very hard to control the bleeding, but it has been suggested that cutting off the parasitic twin's arterial supply might improve the odds of the developed twin's survival.^[1]

Prevalence

There have been at least eighty known cases of craniopagus parasiticus. Only ten cases of craniopagus have been documented in medical research literature.^[6]

Notable cases

Only four cases have been documented by modern medicine to have survived birth:^[6]

• The first case on record is that of the so-called "Two-Headed Boy of Bengal", who was born in 1783 at the village of Mandal Ghat in the New Jalpaiguri district of the Indian state of West Bengal and died of a cobra bite in 1787. His skull remains in the collection of the University of Glasgow Hunterian.^[6][7]
• On December 10, 2003, Rebeca Martínez was born in the Dominican Republic. She was the first baby born with the condition to undergo an operation to remove the second head. She died on February 7, 2004, after an 11-hour operation.^[8]
• On March 30, 2004, Manar Maged was born. On February 19, 2005, 10-month-old Manar underwent a successful 13-hour surgery in Egypt. The underdeveloped conjoined twin, Islaam, was attached to Manar's head and was facing upward. Islaam could blink and even smile, but doctors determined she had to be removed, and that she could not survive on her own.^[9] Manar was featured on an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show and in the British documentary series Body Shock. Manar died on March 26, 2006, fourteen months after the surgery, just days before her second birthday, due to a severe infection in her brain.^[10][11]
• On January 20, 2021, a baby was born at the Elias Hospital in Bucharest, Romania, but died some hours after being born.^[12]

Terminology

In the past, the use of terminology when describing

• Pasqual Piñón, a sideshow performer billed as the Two-headed Mexican
• Janus, ancient Roman god depicted with two faces
• Edward Mordrake
  , an urban legend with a similar trait
• Futakuchi-onna, Japanese yōkai with a similar trait
• Tomie Kawakami, the titular character of Junji Ito's Tomie manga series, who displays a similar condition in one of her numerous incarnations
• Malignant, a 2021 film depicting a fictional case of this condition

References