A pair of thoracopagus lambs

Authors: Kirk EJ, Al-Falluji AM
Publication: New Zealand Veterinary Journal, Volume 35, Issue 9, pp 155-157, Sep 1987
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Animal type: Livestock, Production animal, Ruminant, Sheep
Subject Terms: Anatomy, Congenital disease, Neonatal, Disease/defect, Reproduction, Reproduction - female, Twinning/parity
Article class: Correspondence

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Abstract: Thoracopagy, a condition in which equal and symmetrical twins are conjoined in or near their sternal regions and have hepatic and variable cardiac and gastrointestinal fusions has been an uncommon cause of perinatal ovine mortalities. Sheep are not mentioned in recent summaries of literature on detailed autopsy findings in thoracopagy. One other report describes a pair of lambs with a common thorax and abdomen that contained disparate hearts and lungs and a single set of abdominal organs. We report autopsy findings in a pair of thoracopagus twin female lambs removed from a full-mouth Romney x Lincoln ewe which had been mated to a Lincoln ram. Externally, the lambs were seen to be joined ventrally in their thoracic and cranial abdominal regions but to be otherwise apparently normal. They appeared to be fullterm, and together weighed approximately 7kg. On each side, what appeared to be an otherwise normal sternum lay at the junction between the lambs, with what would normally be its ventral surface directed laterally. The left ribs of one lamb and the right ribs of the other were associated with one sternum, and the remaining ribs with the other sternum, so that a single large thoracic cavity was…

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