Anesthetic management of parasitic conjoined twins' separation surgery

Abstract

Parasitic twin is a rare form of conjoined twins with an incidence ranging from 1 in 50,000 to 1,00,000 live births. In thoracopagus type, both hearts are joined together and often are associated with underlying congenital cardiac malformations. The separation surgery is a challenging task for both the surgeon as well as anesthetist due to the complexity of the procedure and long duration of surgery, carrying mortality close to 100% in case of significant cardiac fusion. Here, we are sharing anesthetic management of successful separation of a rare type of parasitic male conjoined twins who had connected hearts and common liver.

Keywords

• Anesthesia; parasitic twins; surgery; thoracopagus