Masbate twins share one heart, liver, gall bladder

Doctors at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) are closely monitoring the condition of conjoined twins from Masbate City who were found to be sharing a single heart, liver and gall bladder, Sen. Richard Gordon said the other day.

Gordon, chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC), said doctors met at 4 p.m. last Friday to "determine the subsequent management" of eight-day-old Angel May and Angela Garganta.

He said the tests performed so far involved a two-dimensional echocardiogram, whole-body computerized tomography scan, and sonogram imaging. These tests determined that the twins, joined from abdomen to chest, shared three vital organs. Their condition is known as "thoracopagus."

The twins were born to Reynaldo Garganta, a fisherman, and his wife Vilma. They were brought to PGH from Sawang Uson, Masbate City last Tuesday under the auspices of Gordon.

Gordon said the twins’ shared heart shows "evidence of septal defect," an abnormality of the ventricles.

Last Thursday, the twins had to be transferred to the hospital’s intensive care unit after Angela was diagnosed with pneumonitis or inflammation of the lungs.

"Angela is now connected to a ventilator while Angel May is still breathing on her own. Doctors still have to perform an angiography to determine their cardiovascular anatomy," Gordon said. The twins are scheduled to undergo this exam today.

He added that doctors are confident they could separate the twins, but one of them is unlikely to survive the separation.

"The medical committee has already met and they have to do it. Let us pray that everything will be all right for the twins," Gordon said.

In an earlier interview, Reynaldo said he and Vilma felt both happiness and sadness when the twins were born because they had waited four years before she became pregnant.

They are now worried for the twins’ future should they remain conjoined.

"I hope everything will be all right for them. We hope that the operation would be successful so they could lead a normal life. We consider them blessings from heaven," Reynaldo said.

Gordon said the PNRC and the Department of Health will foot the bill for the operation and other medical needs of the twins. He added that if this is not enough, he will initiate a fund-raising drive for them.

Identical twins are the result of the successful separation of a fertilized egg into two cells the first time it divides. Conjoined twins happen when this separation is unsuccessful.

Globally, conjoined twins occur once in every two million births while identical twins occur once every 400,000 births.