Extremely rare birth defects

Birth defects like the Mermaid syndrome, a deformity where the legs are fused together, Craniopagus, a phenomenon where twins are joined at the head, and Dicephalic parapagus, a condition of having two heads, occur rarely but prove challenging to the medical world.From Pakistan to Brazil to more recently India- conjoined twins radhana and Stuti will be operated in the same hospital they were born and abandoned by their parents.

 Conjoined twins Aradhana and Stuti are being operated today in Padhar hospital which has been their home since their birth. The 11 month girls were disowned by their parents because of social pressure and financial inability to take care of their medical treatment.

 Abandoned by their parents, 11-months-old conjoined twins Arathana and Stuti will be operated in Padhar hospital. They’ve been in the same hospital since their birth because their parents couldn’t bare the social and financial burden.

 A woman holds her newly-born grandson, who has six legs, for a photograph at her home in Sukkur in Pakistan's Sindh province on April 14, 2012. REUTERS/Stringer

 The abandoned baby boy with the rare "mermaid syndrome", a defect in which the legs are born fused together, at the Hunan Provincial Children's Hospital in Changsha, central China's Hunan province 16 November 2006. Sirenomelia, or "mermaid syndrome", is a rare congenital defect occurring in one out of every 70,000 births, and the condition is almost always fatal within days of delivery due to serious defects in vital organs.

 Undated handout photo released Sunday Sept.18, 2011 by British charity Facing the World of conjoined twins Rital and Ritag Gaboura (left to right not given) before they were successfully separated at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children. Facing the World says Rital and Ritag Gaboura were born in Sudan with the tops of their heads stuck together. Twins born joined at the head _ known as craniopagus twins _ occur in about one in 2.5