- Thursday, February 27, 2025
By: Vibhuti Pathak
Doctors at AIIMS hospital in Delhi have successfully performed a rare and complex surgery on a 17-year-old boy, removing a parasitic twin that was attached to his abdomen. The condition, where an underdeveloped twin remains dependent on the host twin for survival, is an extremely rare phenomenon, occurring in less than one per 100,000 births.
The teenager, hailing from Unnao in Uttar Pradesh, had a fully developed extra set of limbs and a pelvis that were sustained by a chest artery. The two-and-a-half-hour surgery was particularly challenging because of 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,” said Dr. Asuri Krishna, who led the team of specialists at AIIMS. Due to insufficient medical literature on such cases in adolescents, the team had to rely on their “intuition, skill, and knowledge” to perform the surgery successfully.
Parasitic twins form when one fetus partially develops while attached to the other. In this case, the teenager had two fully formed legs, buttocks, and external genitalia—altogether weighing nearly 15kg—protruding from his abdomen. Remarkably, the parasitic limbs could feel pain, touch, and temperature changes.
Before proceeding with the surgery, doctors conducted extensive scans to determine the extent of the connection between the parasitic and host twins. They discovered that the parasitic twin was attached to the teenager’s breastbone and was receiving blood from a vessel in his chest. However, there was little connection with vital organs like the liver or kidneys.
“But there wasn’t much connection with other main organs like the liver or kidneys,” Dr. Krishna explained, adding that they also found a large cyst in the teen’s abdomen.
The operation was carried out in two stages: first, removing the parasitic twin, and then extracting the cystic mass from surrounding organs. A team of radiologists, anesthetists, and plastic surgeons carefully separated the shared blood vessels, nerves, and tissues while ensuring no damage to the host twin’s organs.
During the surgery, the boy’s blood pressure dropped dangerously as 30-40% of his blood was directed to the parasitic twin. However, the medical team was prepared for this complication and quickly stabilized him.
The teenager was discharged just four days after the surgery and has since been recovering well without complications.
The boy had long struggled with social stigma due to his condition, often facing ridicule and isolation. “I couldn’t travel anywhere or do any physical activity,” he told the Indian Express, adding that he had dropped out of school in the eighth grade.
Now, after the successful surgery, he is looking forward to a fresh start. “I hope to study and get a job. A new world has opened up to me,” he said.
