One Body, Two Heads: Understand what a Parapagos biceps is

From time to time, the press reported on a new case of Siamese twins, which are also scientifically called conjoined twins. In these cases, when the two babies develop in the mother’s womb, they are physically attached to some parts of the body, as they are born together. The images are usually impressive, showing children, and in some cases even adults, attached to some part of the abdomen or even the chest, the head connection being less common.

However, the rarest form of this type of formation is the so-called parapagus dizygotic twins. For many people, in times past and before advances in science, these were cases of “two-headed people”.

according to European Society of RadiologyParapagus dizygotic twins are those “having two heads, sharing a common body from the neck or upper chest downwards, with a pair of lower limbs and one set of genitalia”. This is, at first glance, what we notice a two-headed person, although the torso may be wider than usual.

this This is the case of famous sisters Abby and Brittany Hensel, from Minnesota, USA.. They are now 33 years old and have reached adulthood so they share one torso, a pair of arms and a pair of legs, although one has a shorter lower limb than her sister. They have most of their organs in common, such as the heart, lungs, stomach, spine and spinal cord, but the symmetry of the body makes anyone who looks at it immediately think that it is a human with two heads.

Cases of dichotomycosis are very rare. Statistic also presented on the portal European Society of Radiology He points to “less than 0.5% of cases among conjoined twins,” which are already rare, “on a scale of 1 in 50,000 births, or even 1 in 100,000.” In practice, these numbers indicate a truly rare find.

In April 2022, The case of the birth of parapagus diacritical twins, which gained social media, was recorded in India. The babies were treated at most antenatal care as twins, but then doctors suspected conjoined twins. However, after the cesarean section, it became clear that it was a single torso with two heads, two legs and three arms: they were of the two-headed type.

On this occasion, pediatric surgeon Brijesh Lahoti, from Ratlam City Hospital, said that “in these very rare cases, the condition of children remains uncertain, especially in the early days.” According to the doctor, “the children will be kept under observation” and “nothing will be done in terms of surgery.” There is no public information available, a year later, whether these children were still alive, as did Abby and Brittany Hensel.

The fact is that, although cases of dichotomycosis are almost uncommon, in general they present many difficulties to these humans from birth. according to Oxford University Code of Medical EthicsIn the United Kingdom, “there are only four known sets of twins of this type, who share an undivided torso and two legs, and who survive to adulthood, in most cases having serious congenital heart problems or other abnormalities of different organs”.