This is a look at the 29 sets of births and twin separations we have seen reported on the Web during the current year. Cases are shown in reverse chronological order:

A set of conjoined twin girls (no further information available) are born in Columbia in mid-November.

Infinity and Teal Sanders are born in St. Louis on November 14. The twin girls share a six-chambered heart and suffer many medical problems before both succombing on November 25, living just 10 days.

A set of twin girls are born in Cebu City in the Phillipines on November 12. The twins are named Princess Ann and Princess May by their mom and are born conjoined at the abdomen (most likely being ischiopagus twins).

A pair of baby girls joined at the chest and abdomen are born in Thailand on October 27.

Conjoined twin girls, joined at the stomach, are delivered naturally by a 25-year-old fishmonger from Kormantse, near Saltpond, Ghana on Oct. 20. The mom, Miss Elizabeth Sarbah alias Maame Nyaaba, delivered the twin girls (who have three legs) with the assistance of midwives.

A set of dicephalus twin girls are born in Papau New Guinea on October 12. The twins are taken to Australia for observation where it is determined they can't be separated. Sadly, the girls die of pneumonia on October 21.

Twin girls are born in China on October 7. It appears that the twins are xipho-omphalopagus and will likely be separated during the year 2004.

A pair of Ischiopagus tripus twin boys are born in India on October 6.

Twin girls are born in Vienna, Austria on October 2 and successfully separated a day later. Michaela and Melanie are born connected at the intestines, a rare but dangerous type of conjoinment but are separated in a relatively brief 7-hour surgery.

A set of conjoined twin girls who also share a fraternal triplet sister are successfully separated in a surgery done in Los Angeles on September 11. The girls were nine months old when separated and were born conjoined at the stomach but no other details on the family is released.

A woman delivers cephalothoracopagus twins in Sify, India on September 11. Sadly, the twins die at birth.

A 15-year-old Venezuelan girl, Johana Vitora, delivers twin girls, Maria Alejandra and Maria Jose, on September 10. The twins are likely thoraco-omphalopagus and are candidates to be separated. At age 15, their mom is one of the youngest ever to deliver conjoined twins.

A set of twin boys are born conjoined in the Kerala region of India on August 8. Tragically, one is stillborn and the other survives just five minutes.

Thoracopagus conjoined twin girls are born July 30 in Thailand to a 20-year-old mother. They evidently share all internal organs from their necks downward and initially doctors were not very optimistic on their survival chances. We believe these twins passed away in mid-November.

Brynleigh and Victoria Smith are born to parents Dawn and Matt Smith in San Antonio, Texas on July 25. The thoracopagus twins are born sharing one six-chambered heart, a liver and suffer from gastroschesis that is fixed in an operation when they are five days old. The family continues to post medical updates on Twinstuff as they fight for survival. Because they share a heart, the twins will not be separated.

A pair of twin boys are born in New Dehli, India on July 16 and later abandoned at a hospital by their natural parents who feel they can not care for their sons. The twins are given nicknames by hospital caregivers, including Nilu (blue) and Pinku (pink). The twins share many internal organs and the question of separation takes a backseat to the more critical decision of who will be able to raise the twins. The twins are later rechristened Sohna and Mohna and are cared for by the All-India Pingalwara Charitable Society.

On the same day, July 16, that the twins are born in India, a healthier set of conjoined twin girls are born in Lagos, Nigeria. The twins are joined together at the abdomen and will likely be separated at some point at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore. The twin girls are born to Mrs. Kikelomo Shobowale-Davies and Mr. Davies Abayomi Sobowale. The girls are successfully separated on September 11.

Ischiopagus conjoined twin boys, Abdurrahman and Abdurrahim, are born July 13 in Indonesia. Doctors were still trying to determine whether the twins, joined together at the stomach, could be separated. Sadly, the boys die when they are two weeks old due to complications.

One of the world's few sets of adult conjoined twins died on the operating table on July 8th in an extremely risky operation to separate them. 29-year-old craniopagus conjoined twins Ladan and Laleh Bijani of Iran died from blood losses in the brain shortly after doctors apparently successfully separated their two skulls. Their chances of survival entering the operation were perceived to be no better than 50-50. It's believed that the Bijani Twins were the second set of adult conjoined twins to be separated in recorded history. The first were the Godino brothers, but they were only separated after one died. The other died a few days later of infection. The Godino brothers were 28 at the time of their separation.

A set of twin girls are born conjoined together in Pakistan on July 8. The twins share a heart and liver and are taken home by their parents to their remote Pakistani village of Chorhutta (less than 60 families) despite doctor's wishes for the twins to receive proper medical attention at a modern hospital. The twins, Rania & Tania Aziz-Bibi, died on August 28.

An extremely rare set of triplets that also contain conjoined twin girls are born in Argentina on June 21. The delivery by the unnamed mom in San Juan, Argentina, consists of a healthy baby girl, Guadalupe, and twin girls, Lourdes and Lujan, who evidently shared a heart and lungs. The twin girls pass away on July 9, while their triplet sister continues to do well.

Dicephalus twin girls are born in Upper Egypt (Assiut) in early June. The twins, Huda and Manal Abdel Nasser Mohammed Mahmoud, are born to a 26-year-old mother in an apparently normal, full-term pregnancy. The girls initially were thought to have two hearts but sadly live just a few days after their one fused heart stops functioning.

A set of twin girls are born in Northern Greece on June 12. They are being cared for at Ippokratio Hospital in Greece's main northern city of Thessaloniki. The twins are born conjoined at the forehead. They are successfully separated in a 12-hour surgery that takes place at Rome's Policlinico Gemelli Hospital on October 11.

A pair of conjoined twin boys, Hassan and Hossain Halim-Begum, are born in Hasanpur, Bangladesh on April 18. They are successfully separated in surgery performed in Dkaha on June 24. Tragically, Hossain later passes away on July 28.

Conjoined twins succomb after 22 days in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as they await separation surgery on April 17. The twins, Mohd Khairul Ihwan Ishak and Mohd Khairul Azwan Ishak, were born attached at the chest and shared a heart.

Another pair of conjoined twin boys are born in Jakarta, Indonesia in early April. Doctors are planning on waiting several months to see if the boys, Hafizd and Harits, can be separated.

A set of 11-year-old conjoined girls, Zita and Gita Rezakhonovy, are successfully separated in Moscow, Russia on April 2.. The 10-hour surgery to separate the girls who share one urinary bladder, two kidneys, one pelvis and three legs, is deemed successful by hospital surgeons who perform the operation for free.

Twin thoracopagus girls, Yahaira and Areli Castaneda, are born in Guadalajara, Mexico on March 12. After it is determined that the girls share a fused heart, doctors realize they cannot separate the twins and the twins sadly pass away on March 31.

A set of twin girls, Min Ji Hye and Sa Rang, are born in South Korea on March 3. The girls were born joined at the lower spine and were successfully separated in July in Singapore at Raffles Hospital, the third set of conjoined twins to be operated on at that Singapore hospital in a year.

Twin girls are successfully separated in surgery performed at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital on January 15. Jannat & Zainab Rahman, born on December 1, 2002, undergo a successful four-hour surgery that separates the twin girls who had born connected at the chest and abdomen.