Conjoined twins "impossible to separate" born in China
A pair of conjoined twins who have two heads but only one body have been born in the Sichuan province of China.
The baby girl twins were born to an unnamed farming family at Suining City Central Hospital late last week, and remain in a critical condition with breathing difficulties.
The girls, who represent the first reported case of conjoined twins born in China, share a body and most of the main organs, but have two spines and two oesophaguses so can eat sperately.
Amazingly the two heads were not picked up on pre-natal scans until a scan shortly before the birth showed up the unique condition.
It is said the parents had second thoughts about keeping the children because they feared they would not be able to afford the medical bills required to keep them alive.
In the West there has been several recent instances of dicephalic parapagus twins.
In July 2009, Lisa Chamberlain, from Portsmouth, gave birth to twins Joshua and Jayden, who shared the same single body. Joshua was stillborn while his brother lived for 32 minutes before dying in his mother's arms.
And in the U.S. dicephalic parapagus twins Abigail and Brittany Hensel have become minor celebrities, appearing on the Oprah Winfrey Show and featuring in television documentaries.
The amazing sisters, now 21, from Minnesota, share a single body, but several of their internal organs are doubled up. While each is able to eat and write separately and simultaneously, activities such as walking and driving a car must be co-ordinated.
