Cuttack: A seven-member team of doctors will take care of the Dhenkanal conjoined twins admitted to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Post Graduate Institute for Paediatrics (Sishu Bhawan) here, a senior official said Tuesday.
The team, led by Paediatric Surgery senior professor Hiranya Mohanty, comprises Paediatric Surgery senior professor PK Jena, Medicine professor Anil Mohanty, professor PK Jena, SCB Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH)’s Cardiac Surgery senior professor Manoj Patnaik, Jyoti Champatiray and Manas Upadhay, the official said.
The ECHO test conducted on the twins Tuesday confirmed that they are conjoined at chest and share a single heart. “MRI, CT scan besides other tests will be performed on the twins in a day or two,” Sishu Bhawan superintendent Saroj Satpathy said, adding that the twins are under observation at the Sishu Bhawan’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
About the survival rate of the twins, Paediatric Surgery senior professor PK Jena said that the survival chance in such cases is only 1 per cent. “It doesn’t mean that we won’t treat them. Surgery is not possible at this juncture. Our primary concern is to ensure their survival and so conduct tests on them,” Jena said, adding that such cases are called as thoraco-omphalopagus.
According to SCB’s Cardiac Surgery senior professor Manoj Patnaik, the twins share a single heart. “And the two lives can’t sustain on a single heart. We can ascertain about their other body parts after further tests,” Patnaik said.
Meanwhile, the twins were found to have cleft-lips.
Notably, Sishu Bhawan had received conjoined twins from Nayagarh—Ganga-Jamuna—two years ago. However, after around 19 days of admission they could not survive.
According to sources, the babies were born in Dhenkanal district headquarters hospital and later admitted to Sishu Bhawan Monday. The twins weigh around 4,300 grams.
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