Doctors remove rare parasitic twin from 10-month-old girl's back

Image courtesy: Nancy Swabb/The Washington Post

New Delhi: Dominique, a 10-month-old girl in US had been carrying parasitic twin on her back since her birth till the time doctors managed to remove it surgically.

X-rays of her tiny spine were conducted and doctors then proceeded with careful incision and over the six-hour long surgery, then successfully managed to remove an extra pelvis, feet, legs and tiny toes that were protruding from her back.

As per a report published in NDTV, one of the doctors was quoted saying that "It's as if the parasitic twin dove into Dominique's body and almost made it in except for the waist out," said John Ruge, director of pediatric neurosurgery at Advocate Children's Hospital near Chicago.

Doctors say parasitic twins - asymmetric conjoined twins in which one depends on the other's bodily functions -- are extremely rare.

Even more uncommon are parasitic rachipagus twins, twins connected at the spine.

Ruge said fewer than 30 cases are documented in medical literature -- so few, in fact, that they are often referenced using the patients' names.

"This one would be 'Dominique from Chicago,'" Ruge said.