A case of cranioencephalopagus

A rare case of head accretion of monozygotic girl-twins 6 years of age has been investigated. The common cavity of the endocranium has appeared as a result of accretion of the skull cap bones. The truncal parts of the brain have not any peculiarities, parts of the diencephalon and telencephalon are deformed. In each brain the corpus callosum and fornix are not defined anatomically. A complex configuration of the III ventricle cavity, common for both brains, is formed by means of turned to each other medial surfaces of the thalami and subthalamic parts. Oppositely situating pair of the thalami of both brains is connected by means of the white substance cord. This case is described as an example of cranioencephalopagus (diencephalopagus).     

A case of breast sparganosis

A 29-year-old Korean woman visited the Department of Surgery in MizMedi Hospital with a palpable itching mass on the right breast that had existed for the past 7 months. She had no history to eat either frogs or snakes, but had the history of drinking impure water. Sonography revealed a serpiginous hypoechoic tubular structure associated with partial fat necrosis in breast parenchymal layer and subcutaneous fat layer. It also revealed oval cystic lesions. At operation, an ivory white opaque ribbon-like worm that measured 16.5 cm in length and 0.5 cm in width was extracted. Anti-sparganum specific serum IgG level in the patient's serum (absorbance = 0.71), measured by ELISA, was found to be significantly higher than those of normal controls (cut off point = 0.21). Sonography and ELISA appear to be helpful to diagnose sparganosis. Breast sparganosis is rarely found throughout the world.