Doctors Remove Evil Twin Embryo From Woman's Skull

Doctors soon discovered a tumor in her brain. But when she underwent surgery, the surgeon found something startling. The tumor was actually a teratoma – the woman’s embryonic twin that never developed.

Surgeons removed the teratoma and Ms Karanam is expected to make a full recovery in three week

Ms Karanam jokingly said it was her “evil twin sister who’s been torturing me for the past 26 years”. Her surgeon, Dr. Hrayr Shahinian, was also surprised when he found Karanam’s embryonic twin, he said: “This is my second one, and I’ve probably taken out 7,000 or 8,000 brain tumors.” 

Stories of embryonic twins being found by accident are certainly unusual, but they’re not unheard of.

A parasitic twin (also known as an asymmetrical or unequal conjoined twin) is the result of the processes that also produce vanishing twins and conjoined twins, and may represent a continuum between the two.