One of the brothers, who had a common heart, died in the womb, giving the other his life a living baby continues to develop next to the body of the mummified fetus
Russian doctors separated the Siamese twins in the mother's belly in the third month of pregnancy - a laser beam cut them off from each other. He became the sword of fate, giving one of them hope for life, and the other - death. After all, the crumbs had one common heart.
Until the very birth, the surviving fetus will develop in the stomach next to the dead brother. “This is the first case in world medical practice,” says Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Anton Mikhailov. - The baby who was in the womb was saved! This is a unique case of salvation in multiple pathological pregnancies.
The patient, who was in the third month of pregnancy, underwent an operation, in which a healthy baby was saved from a parasite brother. He was simply cut off from him, and the embryo without a heart was mummified.
Choice
Having found a pronounced anomaly in the development of one of the fetuses on one of the planned ultrasounds, St. Petersburg doctors suggested that 25-year-old mother Nastya K. undergo an intrauterine operation. - Is it possible to save both kids? she asked.
- Unfortunately no. Only one baby has a heart; it is connected with the second blood vessels. No choice. You need to save the one with the heart. Otherwise, the brother will not let him develop normally. You can't postpone! The one without a heart is still doomed …
Nastya decided to sacrifice a sick child for the sake of a healthy one.
Operation
“Siamese twins are rare and always a problem,” continues Anton Mikhailov. - The patient had a division of one egg at an early stage of pregnancy. As a result, there were two embryos per placenta. One of them did not develop properly, he did not have a heart. The embryo could live only at the expense of its fellow. The likelihood of chromosomal abnormalities is very high, so we performed a genetic analysis. He gave positive results, and we decided to try to keep the baby healthy. The operation was performed under local anesthesia. They made a puncture in the mother's abdomen, through the fetal bladder, using an ultrasound machine, they found an artery through which the parasite brother pumped blood. And they burned it with a laser, cut off the brothers from each other. It took just over a minute to separate the twins. And the main time - an hour and a half - was spent on preparing the woman for the operation and finding an artery common to two fetuses.
Mummy
- Brother-parasite will not decompose, the doctors assure. - And the second baby will develop normally. Mom herself brings babies up to 9 months, - say the doctors. Because the pregnancy, despite the operation, continues to proceed normally. After the expiration of the term, the mother herself will give birth to a healthy baby. And the doctors will simply clean the mummy from the uterus.