A set of conjoined twins who have two separate fully developed heads and three arms, but share a heart and a liver and are joined from above the chest have presented a puzzle for doctors in Mumbai.
The twins were born to 26-year-old Shahin Khan at Sion Hospital in the city on Wednesday. Doctors at the hospital would take a call on surgery today although they are apprehensive if it would save the lives of both the babies, reported the Hindustan Times. Doctors said that due to ambiguity in the co-relation between their brain and other organs, they have a "complex internal architecture," due to which the surgery could become difficult.
A four-member special committee of doctors has been constituted to take a call on the matter.
The daily quoted the doctors as saying that due to the inability of MRI and CT scan technologies to study the internal structure of the twins, a 3D mapping of the internal organs will be conducted on Monday.
"The babies require undergoing a specific surgery, which was done only at Jaslok Hospital. But looking at the condition of the twins, they are in no condition to be transported," one of the doctors said.
Suleman Merchant, the Dean of Sion Hospital, told the Press Trust of India that reports of a few tests have established the link between the brains and nervous systems of the babies and a 2D echocardiography is planned to evaluate the single heart. "The babies will require many more investigations," he said.
