Parasitic twin is an exceptionally rare condition with an incidence of less than 1 in 1 million births [1]. It represents a type of conjoined twin where an incompletely formed twin (parasite) tissues are joined to and dependent upon a fully developed twin (autosite) [2].

  The etiology of heteropagus twins is not clear but there are currently two prevailing hypotheses. The theory of fission advocates an incomplete separation of the embryo while the fusion theory suggests a merger of two distinct parts [1,3]. The advanced theory hypothesizes that it occurs because of vascular failure in utero, resulting in one of the twins' death and partial resorption [1,2].

References

1. Sharma G., et al. “Heteropagus (parasitic) twins: a review”. Journal of Pediatric Surgery 12 (2010): 2454-2463.
2. Satter E and Tomita S. “A case report of an omphalopagus heteropagus (parasitic) twin”. Journal of Pediatric Surgery 6 (2008): 37-39.
3. Logrono R., et al. “Heteropagus conjoined twins due to fusion of two embryos: report and review”. American Journal of Medical Genetics 3 (1997): 239-243.
4. Coran AG. “Pediatric surgery”. In: Pediatric surgery. seventh edition. Elsevier Saunders.

Citation

Citation: Pradyumna Pan. “Epigastric Heteropagus Conjoined Twins: Opinion". Acta Scientific Paediatrics 3.10 (2020): 40-41.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Pradyumna Pan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.