This is the kind of thing you hear about in movies. A teenager had to undergo a life saving surgery to remove a parasitic twin attached to his stomach. That is right, you heard me correctly. A teenager has a parasitic twin attached to his stomach. Or rather, had...learn how doctors saved this teen's life.
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Doctors Save Teenager Who Has Parasitic Twin Attached To His Stomach
Daily Mail shared the story of a 17-year-old from Uttar Pradesh, India. This teenager was born with a parasitic twin inside of him. That twin of his was attached to his abdomen. Not only that, but the twin had "a fully developed extra set of legs, as well as a pelvis."
While incredibly rare, this condition does happen. In the case of twins, when one is underdeveloped it becomes the parasitic twin. Then, that twin attaches to some part of the host's body —typically to the head, torso, abdomen, chest, pelvis, buttocks or back.
For this teen, living life with his parasitic twin was extremely uncomfortable. After all, his twin had "two fully formed legs, buttocks, and external genitalia - weight nearly 30 pounds attached to his abdomen." Not only was the teen carrying around extra weight but Daily Mail shares that "His parasitic limbs could feel pain, touch, and change in temperature."
This caused the teen to have trouble sleeping, traveling, and doing any physical activity. Doctors found the parasitic twin through a scan and were able to determine the artery in his chest that was sustaining it. Then, they set to work saving the teenager with a parasitic twin.
A Complex Surgery
This is by no means an easy surgery. The only saving grace was that, in this case, the parasitic twin was not heavily connected to main organs like the teen's liver or kidneys. However, that made the surgery only slightly easier.
The surgery was completed in two phases. In the first phase, "the surgeons removed the parasitic limb through careful dissection and vessel ligation." They needed to stop blood flow to the specific area. Then, in the second phase, medical experts separated the mass of the parasitic twin from the surrounding organs of the host twin.
To make matters even more terrifying and complicated, this condition is so rare that there is not a lot of medical literature on it. Therefore, the doctors who were helping the teenager with the parasitic twin needed to rely mainly on their intuition and skill.
The teenager stayed in the hospital for several days after the surgery for observation. However, after the fourth day he was allowed to return home. Now, he is excited about the future and all it can hold for him.
