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The
two-year-old conjoined twins suffered a rare condition occurring once in about
2.5 million births
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Doctors in India have
successfully separated conjoined twin boys who were attached at the skull in a
marathon surgical procedure that lasted more than 36 hours and involved 40
doctors.
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The
twins were born in a village in the eastern state of Orissa with shared blood
vessels and some shared brain tissue
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The
two-year-old twins, who suffered a rare condition occurring once in about 2.5
million births, underwent the operation at a government-run hospital in New
Delhi on Wednesday.
"It
was a team work of 40 doctors, 20 nurses and many other paramedical staff.
Without their help this would not have been possible," the All India Institute
of Medical Science hospital said in a statement.
One
of the surgeons involved said the most challenging aspect was repairing the
holes left in the young boys' heads after they were separated.
The
twins were born in a village in the eastern state of Orissa with shared blood
vessels and some shared brain tissue. They had undergone the first phase of the
separation surgery in August.
"The
most challenging job after the separation was to provide a skin cover on both
sides of the brain for the children as the surgery had left large holes on
their heads," said Maneesh Singhal, a plastic surgeon who was a part of
the operating team.
"The
skin was generated from the expansion of two balloons which were placed inside
their heads during the first surgery in August," Singhal told AFP on
Friday.
"The
next step will be reconstruction of their skulls," he added.
Conjoined
siblings are identical twins who are born with their skin and internal organs
fused together, according to the University of Maryland Medical Centre website.
About
half are stillborn, and the survival rate is between five and 25 percent.
They develop from a single
egg, which splits in the case of healthy twins, but not fully in the case of
conjoined siblings.
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