Indian doctors have given a new lease of life to a baby girl who was born with a head attached to her stomach.
A team of surgeons removed the head in a four-hour operation.
Dr Pravin Mathur, professor and head of paediatric surgery at the hospital, said: “This is one of the rarest cases of parasitic twin.
“It was a complicated case as the twins shared blood vessels.
“They were joined from the thorax and shared common vessels for blood supply from heart and liver.”
The parents, who work on a farm, were told they were expecting twins during a routine ultrasound.
But medics did not realise one of the twins was parasitic.
Though similar to a conjoined twin, a parasitic twin is not fully formed and was never a viable foetus.
The young couple, who did not want to be identified, were unsure their baby girl would survive long enough to have her twin removed.
Dr Mathur added: “The parents told us the mother had undergone sonography and other tests but were not told about carrying an underdeveloped twin.
“They were shattered when they saw the baby.
Agencies/Canadajournal