title: Xiphopagus conjoined twins: a 300-year review of the obstetric, morphopathologic, neonatal, and surgical parameters.
abstract: Obstetric, morphopathologic, neonatal, and surgical features of 36 reported cases of xiphopagus conjoined twins were correlated and reveal: (1) a 6% incidence of prenatal diagnosis; (2) a 36% rate of dystocia; (3) a 19% incidence of stillbirths; (4) variation in the extent of fusion; (5) a high rate of occurrence of concurrent congenital malformations, not limited to a conjoined area, especially of the heart (25%) and gastrointestinal tract (33%); (6) the importance of diagnostic tests to elucidate conjoined or abnormal structures because of the high rate of concurrent malformations; (7) opisthotonos as the body alignment position of choice; (8) a 69% female sex bias; (9) surgical separation usually in the first year of life; and (10) a 53% survival rate. This paper correlates the world literature for xiphopagus conjoined twins for the past 300 years.
mesh_terms: D000015:Abnormalities, Multiple / Q000175:diagnosis*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D005313:Fetal Death; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000150:complications; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D007744:Obstetric Labor Complications; D009774:Obstetrics / Q000266:history; D011247:Pregnancy; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis; D014428:Twins, Conjoined / Q000196:embryology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D014481:United States