title: Thoracic heteropagus conjoined twins associated to an omphalocele: Report of a case and complete review of the literature.
abstract: Heteropagus twins are an extremely rare event with an incidence of 1-2 million live births that represents, sometimes, a real challenge for paediatric surgeons. The majority of cases have complete or partial duplication of the pelvis and/or lower extremities. Thoracic heteropagus conjoined twins is a rare condition in which a grossly defective foetus (the parasite) is attached to the thorax of the main foetus (the autosite). We describe a case of a parasitic heteropagus attached at the chest wall with a rare presentation of giant exomphalos on the autosite. In this situation, the separation procedure was simple after a well-done anatomic study using X-ray, ultrasonography, magnetic resonance and echocardiogram are performed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Hedi Chaker Hospital, 30219 Sfax, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Kotti
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Hedi Chaker Hospital, 30219 Sfax, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Ben Dhaou
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Mahdi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Hedi Chaker Hospital, 30219 Sfax, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Zitouni
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hayet
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Hedi Chaker Hospital, 30219 Sfax, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Louati
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hamdi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Hedi Chaker Hospital, 30219 Sfax, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Jallouli
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mohamed
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Hedi Chaker Hospital, 30219 Sfax, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Mhiri
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Riadh
mesh_terms: D000015:Abnormalities, Multiple; D004200:Diseases in Twins; D006554:Hernia, Umbilical / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D035583:Rare Diseases; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D035441:Thoracic Wall / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000601:surgery; D014428:Twins, Conjoined