The much awaited surgery on a parasitic twin will be performed at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) today. The (BSMMU), country’s first medical university, on Saturday formed an 18-member team to perform the surgery on a parasitic twin, a press release said.
Professor Dr Mohammad Ruhul Amin, chairman of the Pediatric Surgery Department, is expected to carry out the surgery of the 100-day-old boy, named Mohammad Ali, now undergoing treatment there.
Three senior pediatric surgeons- Professor Dr Shafiqul Haque, Professor Dr Motiur Rahman and Professor Dr Saiful Islam-have also been included in the team as consultants.
Parasitic twins occur when a twin embryo begins developing in utero, but the pair does not fully separate, and one embryo maintains dominant development at the expense of the other. The undeveloped twin is defined as parasitic, rather than conjoined, because it is incompletely formed or wholly dependent on the body functions of the complete fetus, reads Wikipedia.
“We have done necessary tests and diagnosis, and have reached a consensus among ourselves to conduct the surgery locally in order to remove the half-developed child from the fully-developed child’s body,” Prof Amin told BSS, expressing his optimism about the success of the surgery.
Born in a poor family in Bagerhat in March this year, the baby is the fourth child of his parents. The baby was admitted to BSMMU last month and the university authorities have decided to bear the cost of his surgery on humanitarian and research grounds. The baby’s surgeon-designate said the half-developed child was conjoined on the right side of the abdomen of the fully grown baby of the twin and has been regularly discharging urines as it has a separate kidney, urethra and penis. The surgery will be focused to get rid of half-developed baby from the fully grown baby.
