Geburtshilfe Frauenheilkd 2014; 74 - PO_Geb12_15
DOI: 10.1055/s-0034-1388240

conjoined twins @15+4 weeks

FC Vogeler 1, F Dombrowski 2, F Ruhland 1
  • 1Hanseklinikum Stralsund, Gynäkologie und Geburtshilfe, Stralsund, Germany
  • 2Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald, Pathologie, Greifswald, Germany

Methods: Case report & literature review

Background: Conjoined twins is a rare phenomenon, the occurrence is estimated to range from 1 in 50,000 births to 1 in 200,000 births. The overall survival rate is about 20%. The condition is more frequently found among females, with a ratio of 3: 1. The most famous pair of conjoined twins was Chang and Eng Bunker (1811 – 1874), Thai brothers born in Siam. As a crowd puller in a circus they were billed as the famous Siamese Twins for many years. Hence the term "Siamese twins" came to be used as a synonym for conjoined twins.

Case report: A 30-year-old gravida 3, para 2 presented for her first antenatal visit at at 15+4 weeks. Ultrasound showed non-viable monochorial monoamniote twins with signs of a hydrops fetalis. Further a polyhydramnion was present. The fetuses were not distinguished from one another at the thoracic-abdominal level.

Results: Autopsy findings after induced abortion: the two female bodies fused at the lower chest, only sharing the liver with a conjoined umbilical cord, no further organ system was involved.

Fig. 1: ventral view of omphalopagus twins

Conclusion: Also imaging was limited due to advanced state of fetale maceration ultrasound could still diagnose this seldom malformation.