News Desk |
Two-years-old conjoined twin sisters successfully separated at a leading hospital in Britain after 50-hour-long surgery. A team of 100 medical experts conducted a complex surgery to separate their heads, skulls, and blood vessels.
The twin sisters; Safa and Marwa hailed from Charsadda in KP Pakistan, were born with their heads joined at the time of birth in 2017. The girls were born with a rare condition known as “craniopagus”, in which the girls’ skulls were joined and intertwined.
The twins underwent three operations at Great Ormond Street Hospital before finally living independent lives. The first operation took place on October 2018, when the girls were 19-months old. The last operation, during which the girls were finally separated, was carried out on 11th February 2019. The girls were discharged after four months of recovery on July 1st.
Neurosurgeon Noor Ul Owase Jeelani, who led the surgery, mentioned: “We are delighted to have been able to help Safa and Marwa and their family.”
“Craniopagus is an exceptionally rare and complex condition,” stated David J. Dunaway, who co-led the surgery of the twins.
The hospital conducted two successful operations of craniopagus twins in 2006 and 2011. According to the website, GOSH “is one of only a few hospitals in the world to have the infrastructure, facilities, and team of experts” to separate the conjoined twins. Rare craniopagus disease, affects about one in 2.5 million births.
According to GOSH, the probability of craniopagus twins undergoing surgery is around one in ten million.
To ensure a smooth operation, doctors took the help of virtual reality which created a replica of the girls’ anatomies. This enabled the surgeons to visualize the exact positioning of their brain and blood vessels.
Read more: Schwarzenegger wakes from heart surgery declaring: ‘I’m back!’
During the operation, the surgeons first separated their blood vessels and then inserted a piece of plastic in their head to keep their brains and blood vessels apart.
The girls’ mother, Zainab Bibi, 34, commented: “We are indebted to the hospital and the staff and we would like to thank them for everything they have done. We are extremely excited about the future.”
The girls’ father died of a heart attack when the mother was pregnant with them.
Neurosurgeon Noor Ul Owase Jeelani, who led the surgery, mentioned: “We are delighted to have been able to help Safa and Marwa and their family.”
“We are also incredibly proud of the GOSH team that is responsible for their treatment and care over the past 10 months. GOSH really is one of the few hospitals in the world with the infrastructure and expertise to carry out a separation like this successfully.”
Read more: Indian doctor mistakes patients, performs wrong surgery
The final major operation involved surgeon building new skulls using the girls’ bone.