Cojoined Twins, Sisters Born With One Head Fighting For Their Lives

Joined at the head are the Twin sisters, born in Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

The on joined baby girls were born prematurely by emergency caesarean section suffering from the extra rare condition that occurs in about one in 2.5 million births.

Sisters Putra and Siti Hadijah are currently in a hospital , fighting for their lives. As separating them can be dangerous, the best hospital medics are trying to establish whether the girls share brain tissue, as well as vital arteries and nerves. Conjoined twins who are fused at the skull are called craniopagus twins.

In the last-half century the many advances in medicine have proven that a successful outcome is possible following separation of total craniopagus twins. However, most cases of separation are extremely risky and life-threatening. In many cases, the surgery results in the death of one or both of the twins, particularly if they are joined at the head or share a vital organ.

Around 200 pairs of conjoined twins are born alive every year. Only half of the twins survive past their first birthday. Approximately 70 percent of all conjoined twins are girls. Female siblings are more likely to survive than their male counterparts. Earlier this year conjoined baby twin girls who shared the same chest wall, lungs, pericardial sac, diaphragm, liver, intestines, colon and pelvis were separated in the world’s first successful operation of its kind.