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Craniopagus Twins

Surgical Techniques for a Staged Separation

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Textbook of Pediatric Neurosurgery

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Abstract

Craniopagus twins represent a rare disorder and remain a highly fascinating accident of nature. Craniopagus twins joined at the head occur about one per 2.5 million live births worldwide and represent just 2–6% of all types of conjoined twins. Approximately 40% of craniopagus twins are stillborn and an additional one-third dies within 24 h of birth. The common cause of early death is related to congenital organ anomalies with the most common related to pulmonary, heart (failure, hyper-and hypotension), and renal failure. This leaves about 25% of craniopagus twins for consideration of a surgical separation. Over the last three decades, it has been our experience that only 2–3 sets of craniopagus twins occur yearly that are possible candidates for separation. In the last half-century, with the many advances in medicine including brain imaging, 3D CADCAM imaging, 3D modeling, and advanced neuroanesthesia and neurosurgical techniques, successful outcomes are now possible following separation of even total craniopagus twins.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Leo Davidoff Department of Neurological Surgery, Pediatrics, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, Bronx, NY, USA

    James Tait Goodrich, Andrew Joshua Kobets, Kamilah Dowling & Oren Tepper

Authors
  1. James Tait Goodrich
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  2. Andrew Joshua Kobets
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  3. Kamilah Dowling
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  4. Oren Tepper
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrew Joshua Kobets .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. International Neuroscience Institute, Hannover, Germany

    Concezio Di Rocco

  2. Oakland Medical Center, Oakland, CA, USA

    Dachling Pang

  3. University of Toronto Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada

    James T. Rutka

Section Editor information

  1. Pediatric Neurosurgery, International Neuroscience Institute, Hannover, Germany

    C. Di Rocco

  2. Pediatric Neurosurgery, Catholic University Medical School, Rome, Italy

    G. Tamburrini

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© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

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Goodrich, J.T., Kobets, A.J., Dowling, K., Tepper, O. (2019). Craniopagus Twins. In: Di Rocco, C., Pang, D., Rutka, J. (eds) Textbook of Pediatric Neurosurgery. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31512-6_10-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31512-6_10-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-31512-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31512-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

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