The woman lived 26 years with her embryonic twin lodged inside her brain before doctors finally removed it

Apr 23, 2015 13:12 GMT  ·  By

When she agreed to let surgeons at the Skull Base Institute in Los Angeles, US, operate on her, young Yamini Karanam expected that they would pull a tumor from her brain.

The doctors did remove an abnormal tissue growth from deep inside her skull, except that this growth turned out not to be a cancer tumor, as expected. Instead, medical experts identified it as the woman's embryonic twin.

The woman had no idea she was living with her twin inside her head

For the better part of her life, Yamini Karanam was perfectly healthy. Back in last year's September, however, she started having trouble understanding the things she was reading or hearing.

She booked an appointment with doctors at the Skull Base Institute, and a few body scans later, she was told that what was making her sick was a tumor that had somehow grown inside her brain.

Since the location of this supposed cancer tumor made it operable, the 26-year-old Yamini Karanam, an Indiana University PhD student, agreed to let surgeons go in and try to retrieve it.

It was only during surgery that doctors figured out that what they were dealing with was not a tumor, but the woman's embryonic twin, complete with hair and teeth.

Having removed it, they showed it to the young woman. Needless to say, Yamini Karanam was shocked to find that she had been living for years with her embryonic twin inside her head.

Huffington Post tells us that, following this surgical intervention, the woman feels much better. In fact, the doctors who handled her case expect her to make a full recovery.

Such cases are extremely rare but not entirely unheard of, doctors say

Medical experts say that, although very rare, cases of people born with their twins inside their body are not entirely unheard of. Such abnormal tissue growths are known to the scientific community as teratomas.

Earlier this year, researchers in China produced a report detailing the case of a baby girl who was born pregnant with her own siblings. Surgeons operated on her and, soon enough, the girl was feeling well enough to go home.