Parasitic twin

Parasitic twin

A parasitic twin (also known as an asymmetrical or unequal conjoined twin) is the result of the processes that produce vanishing twins and conjoined twins, and may represent a continuum between the two. 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. Unlike conjoined twins, one ceases development during gestation and is vestigial to a mostly fully-formed, otherwise healthy individual twin. 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.

The independent twin is called the autosite.

Variants

* Conjoined-parasitic twins joined at the head are described as craniopagus or cephalopagus, and occipitalis if joined in the occipital region or parietalis if joined in the parietal region.

*Craniopagus parasiticus is a general term for a parasitic head attached to the head of a more fully-developed fetus or infant. [cite journal | author=Aquino DB, Timmons C, Burns D, Lowichik A | title=Craniopagus parasiticus: a case illustrating its relationship to craniopagus conjoined twinning | journal=Pediatric Pathology and Laboratory Medicine | year=1997 | pages=939–44 | volume=17 | issue=6 | pmid=9353833 | doi=10.1080/107710497174381]

* The Twin reversed arterial perfusion or TRAP sequence, results in an acardiac twin, a parasitic twin that fails to develop a head, arms and a heart. The parasitic twin, little more than a torso with or without legs, receives its blood supply from the host twin by means of an umbilical cord-like structure, much like a fetus in fetu, except the acardiac twin is outside the host twin's body. Because it is pumping blood for both itself and its acardiac twin, this causes extreme stress on the normal fetus's heart. This twinning condition usually occurs very early in pregnancy. [cite web |title=Acardiac Twin or TRAP Sequence |publisher=University of California, San Francisco |date=2007-04-26 |url=http://fetus.ucsfmedicalcenter.org/twin/learn_more_trap.asp |accessdate=2007-05-30]

* Fetus in fetu sometimes is interpreted as a special case of parasitic twin, but may be a distinct entity.

References


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