Bovine epigastric heteropagus in Trinidad and Tobago: a case study

ABSTRACT

Congenital duplications are common causes of dystocia in farm animals, especially in cattle. Heteropagus or conjoined asymmetric twins can be differentiated into a dominant and a parasitic twin, which can be classified further by the development of the parasitic twin and its anatomical attachment to the dominant twin (autosite). In epigastric heteropagus, the parasitic twin is attached to the autosite in the epigastric area. Epigastric heteropagus is a very rare condition in all species, but it has previously been reported in human beings (Chadhaand others 1993). There have been no reports of heteropagus in cattle in Trinidad and Tobago, and there is a paucity of information on bovine epigastric heteropagus in the literature. Reports of congenital abnormalities in Trinidad include craniopagus in a calf (Isitor and Adogwa 1992), perosomus elumbus in a goat (Cazabon and others 1994) and cephalothoracopagus in sheep (Cazabon and Adogwa 2003). The interest in congenital abnormalities lies mainly in the aetiology and its implications, such as genetic defects and environmental toxins. This short communication describes the firstcase of epigastric heteropagus in cattle reported in Trinidad and Tobago.