A woman from China’s northwest region has made headlines after giving birth to twins from two separate uteruses, a rare occurrence that has captured the attention of the medical world. The woman, known only by her surname Li, delivered the twins in September at a hospital in Shaanxi province, according to a report by the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

The woman was diagnosed with uterus didelphys, a rare condition that affects only 0.3 per cent of women worldwide. This condition results in a woman having two fully formed uteruses, each with its own set of ovaries and oviducts. While it is already uncommon, Li’s case was even more remarkable because she managed to naturally conceive and give birth to twins—a boy and a girl—each from a different womb.

The twins were born when Li was eight and a half months pregnant, adding a unique chapter to the limited cases of such births across the globe.

  • Rhaedas@fedia.io
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    1 month ago

    Even just the condition being called “rare” is odd, since that’s 12 million women. I have no idea how to do odds on fertilization of two different eggs, but I can’t see it as unlikely unless it’s a factor of the periods of each set of ovaries being usually offset.

    Another recent US case has other info. The “hyperovulation” is the key component here, as normally the ovaries in even someone with two uteruses release one at a time. I read the first article as saying two ovaries per uterus, but that doesn’t seem to be the case, it’s just a duplication of the uterus and sometimes each ovary connects to its own, leading to these odds.