The two infants, V.N and V.T, were found to be conjoined twins when the mother was pregnant at 33 weeks. Local doctors performed a caesarean section seven weeks later, and the two babies were born weighing 2.2kg and 2.8kg respectively.

After the birth, V.T suffered bleeding into the skin and pustules all over the body, but the baby was in stable health condition.

Meanwhile, V.N had respiratory failure and pustules all over the body. Through echocardiography, doctors of the Lao Cai provincial General Hospital found V.N also suffered atrioventricular septal defect.

Both babies were also found to have perihepatitis through abdominal ultrasound.

As the two babies did not respond to treatment, they were transferred to the National Children’s Hospital on May 28.

After careful examinations, the Hanoi-based doctors concluded that V.T is in stable health while V.N is in critical condition.

V.N suffered atrioventricular septal and single ventricle defects, severe atrioventricular valve regurgitation, aortic disruption, arterial inversion, and pulmonary atrophy.

During the consultation, specialists looked at options to conduct a surgery to separate the conjoined twins, aiming to save both babies’ lives.

Conjoined twins rarely seen in medicine with the rare phenomenon occurring at a rate of 1 in approximately 200,000 births. Two thirds of pairs are female.

Source: VOV