Why do conjoined twins die?

[elTaco]

The general consensus is not in question here. CT's usually die because of inadaquate, unpresent or insufficient organs from what I know.

My question is, since quite a few CT's do live, what differentiates them from those that die?

Is there a certain capacity for adaptation that some people's genes might have? This is assuming that the conjoined situation is a failure, and the mother's facilities attempt to compensate.


Keep in mind that I admit my noviceness in the medical field. I was just interested. Correct me at your leisure

 

[tinyabs]

I don't really think gene plays a large part since we all have the same genes with variations. Anyone respond differently and randomly in this kind of operation. There are simply too much factors to consider for a 100% successful operation. Even the operation is successful, the patients still have to survive the critical period. It may even lead to organ failures in not too distant future.

 

[nineball9]

There are some interesting stats on conjoined twins in this month's (January 2004) issue of Scientific American magazine. Page 30 sidebar.
Here's one stat from sciam: recorded number of conjoined twins, to November 2003: 1,279.

From http://www.twinstuff.com/conjoined.htm :

"The birth of two connected babies can be extremely traumatic and approximately 40-60% of these births are delivered stillborn with 35% surviving just one day. The overall survival rate of conjoined twins is somewhere between 5-25% and historical records over the past 500 years detail about 600 surviving sets of conjoined twins with more than 70% of those surviving pairs resulting in female twins."

More at above URL.

Stephen Jay Gould wrote an interesting essay, Living With Connections, about 19th century conjoined twins. The essay is reprinted in his book The Flamingo's Smile, chapter 4.

 

[Pudgygiant]

I think matt damon and greg kinnear proved they don't. GG.