Harper R G, Kenigsberg K, Sia C G, Horn D, Stern D, Bongiovi V
Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1980 Jul 1;137(5):617-29. doi: 10.1016/0002-9378(80)90707-3.
Obstetric, morphopathologic, neonatal, and surgical features of 36 reported cases of xiphopagus conjoined twins were correlated and reveal: (1) a 6% incidence of prenatal diagnosis; (2) a 36% rate of dystocia; (3) a 19% incidence of stillbirths; (4) variation in the extent of fusion; (5) a high rate of occurrence of concurrent congenital malformations, not limited to a conjoined area, especially of the heart (25%) and gastrointestinal tract (33%); (6) the importance of diagnostic tests to elucidate conjoined or abnormal structures because of the high rate of concurrent malformations; (7) opisthotonos as the body alignment position of choice; (8) a 69% female sex bias; (9) surgical separation usually in the first year of life; and (10) a 53% survival rate. This paper correlates the world literature for xiphopagus conjoined twins for the past 300 years.
