Manar Maged who survived an earlier operation to remove a parasitic twin died Saturday after infection in her brain. Maner was only 10 months old when Egyptian doctors, in a marathon 13 hour operation in February 2005, managed to separate the parasitic twin. The "twin" could do little more but blink and smile.
Manar Maged case has been diagnosed as Craniopagus Parasiticus, an extremely rare condition where the embryo splits to form a twin but fails to develop separately and is attached to the head of the "normal" embryo. There have been other known cases, such as girl in the Dominican Republic, born in 2003, who did not survive the delicate and dangerous operation to remove the parasitic twin. As well, The Royal College of Surgeons in London displays the skull of the "Two headed boy of Bengal" who was born in 1783 but died in 1787 from a Cobra bite.
An image I can never forget
