Friday, July 31, 2009

Baby Born With Two Heads


A baby girl with two heads was born at Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital, a government hospital in Manila, the Philippines on Tuesday night.

“Baby Girl Arciaga”, now under observation at the Philippine Heart Center, was born with two hearts contained in one sac. The heads have separate brains and spines, but share most other vital organs, including lungs and kidneys.

“This is a very rare case. It’s new even to us,” Dr. Ruben Flores, FMH’s director, said in a television interview.

The condition is called dicephaly monozygotic conjoined birth, and it occurs in only one out of 80,000 live births.

Doctors at the Philippine Heart Center said oxygen tanks and medications have been keeping the girl – technically a pair of conjoined twins – in stable condition, but an underdeveloped heart threatens their life.

Their complexion turns dark whenever they cry because of a hole in one of the hearts.

“Eventually if one heart fails, the other one will be affected,” said Dr. Flores.

He also said that it might be impossible to separate “Baby Girl” because they share one body and most organs. The conjoined twins were also born with neo-natal pneumonia.


source

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