The twins, Jagga (Jagganath) and Balia (Balram) were born with fused brain and skull, a condition known as
craniopagus. They were admitted to AIIMS on July 14, 2017, and their heads were separated after a series of discussion and extensive surgical procedures.
Only 5% of these are joined at the head - or
craniopagus. It is thought only 15 of the average 50
craniopagus twins born each year live beyond 30 days.
In a statement issued by Gosh, the twins were born in January 2017, conjoined at the head -- known as '
craniopagus' twins.
According to Mirror, the infants were
craniopagus twins, born one in every 2.5 million births.
They are further classified into eight basic types relative to their site(s) of union or pagus (Greek for joined): Omphalopagus (umbilicus/abdomen), thoracopagus (thorax/upper abdomen), cephalopagus (maxillofacial),
craniopagus (skull), ischiopagus (pelvis), rachipagus (spine) and pygopagus (sacrum).
The dorsally conjoined twins fuse with the closing neural folds either in the head (
craniopagus), the coccygeal region (pyopagus), or in between these regions (rachipagus).
The boys were born the rarest of rare: Only one in 2.5 million sets of twins are
craniopagus, or conjoined at the head.
They are like
craniopagus conjoined twins, who share one brain.
RIYADH: A marathon separation surgery on Syrian
craniopagus or conjoined twins was being performed by a multi-disciplinary medical team led by Dr.
In 1987, Carson made medical history by being the first surgeon to successfully separateA conjoined twinsA (the Binder twins) who had been joined at the back of the head (
craniopagus twins).
Conjoined twins represent an uncommon congenital malformation, with an estimated incidence of 1: 50,000-1: 100,000,1 and approximate 75 Percent of cases are females.2,3 Usually, conjoined twins are classified according to the most prominent site of conjunction: thorax (thoracopagus) 40 Percent , abdomen (xiphopagus and omphalopagus) 33 Percent , sacrum (pygopagus) 18 Percent , pelvis (ischiopagus) 6 Percent , and
craniopagus (1-2 Percent).3,4