Baby with two heads born in Fabella

MANILA, Philippines - A girl with two heads was born at the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Manila last Tuesday, hospital officials said yesterday.

Hospital director Dr. Ruben Flores said the baby was born with a rare condition of conjoined twinning called “dicephaly thoracopagus.” The global ratio for this is one per 80,000.

“The baby was born full term but with neo-natal pneumonia. At this point she is stable but there is no guarantee because of multiple cardio and congenital anomalies,” he said in a press briefing.

Hospital officials said the extra head appeared to be a twin of the girl who failed to fully separate during the development stage in early pregnancy.

They said they will transfer the girl, who weighed 3.8 lbs at birth, to the Philippine Heart Center soon for further diagnostic tests and better management of her heart condition. As of press time, the girl is at the hospital’s neo-natal intensive care unit.

The girl is the fifth child of Chateria Arciaga, 29, via caesarian section. Chateria and her husband, Salvador Arciaga Jr., are from Muntinlupa City.

Flores said Chateria had undergone prenatal check-up “outside” of Fabella but her ultrasound results did not show she was carrying conjoined twins.

A medical bulletin showed that Chateria started having her pre-natal check-up “at a local health center at three months with regular intake of multi-vitamins and ferrous sulfate. (She) denies any maternal illness, exposure to radiation nor intake of teratogenic drugs.”

Dr. Eden Latosa, a pediatric cardiologist, said a cranial ultrasound revealed the baby’s two heads are normal although the right head is slightly smaller.

“It’s fortunate that they have different blood supply (to the head). We found out that they have one liver, one abdomen and two kidneys although the right kidney is smaller... The two heads also cry simultaneously and when you pat her, both heads stop crying,” she said.

Latosa, however, said the baby was found to have two hearts in one pericardial sac. She said the heart on the left side has a complete set of ventricles and is connected to the aorta and pulmonary arteries.

She said the other heart also has two ventricles, but only one atrium.

Doctors refused to comment on the girl’s chances of survival, though Flores said her parents “worried about their baby but they want her to survive.”