11-month-old conjoined twins separated at Delhi AIIMS

New Delhi: Doctors at All India India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi successfully separated conjoined twins after an operation that lasted for several hours. 

''The separated pair of twins were joined at the level of the chest and upper part of the belly and were facing each other. Major organs were shared between the twin sisters, including the liver, the heart's covering layers, the ribcage, the diaphragm, and the abdominal wall,'' the AIIMS said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Pediatric Surgery Department, AIIMS Delhi, under the leadership of Dr Minu Bajpai, successfully separated the conjoined twins in June, it said.

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Separation of the livers and the region of the heart was challenging, and multiple teams of surgeons took turns to complete the surgery precisely and efficiently, the statement said.

"The children were managed in the critical care unit, and inputs from various departments and nursing care by our nursing staff have enabled them to recuperate," it said.

They are now ready to be discharged from the hospital, the statement said.

Separation of conjoined twins is a complex surgery that requires multidisciplinary coordination and meticulous planning and execution by various departments-including, including radiologists, anesthesiologists, plastic surgery, cardiothoracic surgeons, nursing, etc, it added.

Minu Bajpai, head of the department of paediatric surgery at AIIMS, said the twins were diagnosed as ‘thoraco-omphalopagus conjoined twins’ in the fourth month of pregnancy, following which the family, originally from Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly, was referred to AIIMS to ensure that a they received a proper treatment plan for the girls’ birth and eventual separation, reports HT.

The two were operated on when they were just 11 months old — enough to tolerate the trauma of surgery, Prabudh Goel, additional professor, department of paediatric surgery, said.

Conjoined twins are babies who are connected physically with each other since birth.