Some Strange Facts Of Twins And Triplets, Conjoined And Otherwise
Posted: Friday, November 18, 2011
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
I have always been somewhat intrigued by multiple births, especially identical multiple births and, although tragic many times, the conjoined phenomena. I decided to do a little research to find if there were records of conjoined triplets and was quite surprised and some of the things I found. Many of the incidents were simply listed, with no confirmation or even description of where they were found.
A unique case of conjoined triplets that was characterized as tricephalus, tetrabrachius, and tetrapus parapagothoracopagus is presented. Antenatal diagnosis of the conjoined triplet was made at 22 weeks of gestation with 2-dimensional ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging. Pregnancy was terminated by hysterotomy, and diagnosis of conjoined triplets was confirmed postnatally.
And according to Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia we find the following:
There have been two documented cases of Conjoined Triplets:
Unidentified (Sicily, Italy, 1834) 3 boys born with a single torso, two hearts, two stomachs, two lungs & three heads. The case was profiled in Gould & Pyle's Curiosities of Medicine.
Unidentified (Samsun, Turkey, 1955) Three heads, two pairs of arms, two pairs of legs; lived for 2 hours. On autopsy four lungs, three livers, three brains, two hearts and two kidneys were found. Information appeared in Sexology Magazine in 1955, they cited the Journal of the American Medical Association for the information.
A brief description was also found on the www.babble.com website, describing a case in Indonesia where doctors discovered two dead siblings inside the abdomen of a one year old girl. They first thought they were abdominal tumors but discovered they were partially developed human fetuses. A five hour surgery removed the little girls siblings. It was a complicated surgery since the undeveloped fetuses aortas were still linked to the surviving child.
Doctors said that one of the bodies was totally complete, except for arms and legs. And the other had only a head, but with hair, and also part of a digestive system. They also said the two were lifeless when the little girl was born.
It is evident, although not particularly stated, that no conjoined triplets have survived although some triplets with two conjoined have survived.
Aside from those facts, I ran into some very interesting additional facts, some almost shocking.
There is a set of conjoined twins who appear to be one person with two heads, but doctors tell us that they have separate hearts and other vital organs, but only one arm and one leg each. One child controls her own arm and leg while the other controls hers. It has been amazing according to doctors that they learned so early to coordinate their individual movements to do things normally done by one. A good example given was the patti-cake as small children learn to clap their hands. To do this in unison by two individual minds when vry young is impressive. These twins are Abigail "Abby" Loraine Hensel and Brittany "Britty" Lee Hensel, now 21 years old. Here are the body parts, some separate, some common. This list is from Wikipedia.
2 heads
2 spines merging at the coccyx, and joined at the thorax by sections of ribs. Surgery was employed to correct scoliosis
2 completely separate spinal cords
2 arms (originally 3, but rudimentary central arm was surgically removed, leaving central shoulder blade in place)
1 broad ribcage with 2 highly fused sternums and traces of bridging ribs. Surgery was employed to expand the pleural cavities
2 breasts
2 hearts in a shared circulatory system (nutrition, respiration, medicine taken by either affects both)
4 lungs with the medial lungs moderately fused, not involving Brittany's upper right lobe; three pleural cavities
1 diaphragm with well-coordinated involuntary breathing, slight central defect
2 stomachs
2 gallbladders
1 liver, enlarged and elongated right lobe
Y-shaped small intestine which experiences a slightly spastic double peristalsis at the juncture
1 large intestine with one colon
3 kidneys: 2 left, 1 right
1 bladder
1 set of reproductive organs
2 separate half-sacrums, which converge distally
1 slightly broad pelvis
2 legs
There is a video of this/these girls on you tube which you need to see and especially watch the precise coordination as these two type with their individual hands, dive and swim, hit a softball (better than I can do) and more. They are amazing. Enjoy at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZUzi0RhBpM
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