International teleconsultation on conjoined twins leading to a successful separation: a case report

• Published in: Journal of telemedicine and telecare Vol. 24; no. 7; p. 482
• Main Authors: Fusaro, Mario V, Becker, Christian, Pandya, Samir, Mcbride, Whitney, Alizadeh, Kaveh, Iannotti, Vicki, Zelkovic, Paul, Barst, Samuel, Tobias, Michael E, Mohan, Avinash, Freda, Jeffrey, Gewitz, Michael, Scurlock, Corey
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.08.2018
• Subjects: Conjoined twins; international teleconsultation
• ISSN: 1758-1109
• DOI: 10.1177/1357633X17715377

Conjoined twins are identical twins that have incompletely separated in utero. The prognosis for conjoined twins is poor and management in a skilled tertiary care centre is paramount for definitive care. We describe our experience with a telemedical consultation on conjoined twins in The Dominican Republic from our eHealth centre in Valhalla, NY. The patients were two month old, female, pygopagus conjoined twins. A multidisciplinary teleconference was initiated with the patients, their family, the referring paediatrician and our team. Based on this teleconsultation, the team felt as though the twins may be amenable to a surgical separation. They presented to our centre in Valhalla, NY, for a detailed physical examination and series of imaging studies. Soon after, the patients underwent a successful 21 h separation procedure and were discharged 12 weeks later. To our knowledge, this is one of the first reports of an international teleconsultation leading to a successful conjoined twin separation procedure.