Mumbai: Conjoined twin sisters separated in rare surgery at Parel's Wadia Hospital

In an extremely rare surgery a team of specialist surgeons successfully separated a pair of conjoined twin sisters born at the BJ Wadia Hospital for Children in Parel a hospital official said on WednesdayThe twins were born to a young Mumbai couple on December 21 but were conjoined at the abdomen with a shared liver lower chest bone abdominal cavities and possibly the intestines making their survival chances slimThe couple earlier underwent a sonography test and both parents were overjoyed with the prospects of giving birth to a set of twinsLater they were shattered when an antenatal ultrasound scan suggested that the twins were probably conjoined at the abdomen hospital CEO Dr Minnie Bodhanwala saidThey approached us with brave determination and lot of hope to bring these two little lives to the world overcoming all the problems she saidA team of specialist doctors comprising Head of Paediatric Surgery Dr Pradnya Bendre plus a neonatologist anesthesiologists plastic surgeons radiologists and cardiac surgeons was prepared for the rare operation to separate the two girls after a 6hour major surgery on January 3The twins were omphalopagus or joined together from the chest bone to umbilicus and every aspect was challenging from their safe delivery to the successful operation separating them as independent individuals said Dr BendreAfter a closely monitored fullterm pregnancy the twins were delivered by a planned caesarean section with a combined weight of 420 kg at birthThe conjoined twins were kept in the NICU after birth They were clinically active and fused at the abdomen from the lower part of the sternum to the common umbilical cord They underwent extensive investigations to understand the anatomy and complexity of the separation surgery Bendre saidShe said while one baby was pink the other was pale and a CT Scan showed one major blood vessel going from one baby to the other resulting in differential circulation owing to the shared common liver or the omphalopagus conditionThis condition could ultimately lead to overloading one baby and result in cardiac failure making it an extremely risky and complex separation surgeryBendre said that even the decision to take up the separation surgery was difficult delaying it till the babies grew would make it easier for the surgeons but rendered it difficult for the parents to look after themAfter counselling the parents on all the complexities risks benefits of earlyversuslate operation the separation surgery was taken up 14 days after their birthSpecial technology of cutting liver using a harmonic scalpel and T seal was used which minimised blood loss to less than 10 ml The entire procedure lasted for 6 hours and the babies needed postoperative ventilator support for 2 days Gradually from day 3 postoperations the babies started on feeds they are now active on full feeds with gradual weight gain and their wounds have healed well Bodhanwala said with a smileThe parents hail from Mumbai and postdischarge the hospital has designed a multidisciplinary followup programme to monitor the separated twin sisters development nutrition liver function and immunisation she addedDetailing statistics Bodhanwala said that conjoined twins are seen in between 50000200000 live births of which omphalopagus twins comprise between 1018 per cent and less than 300 successful surgical separations have been done in the past in the countryThis is the fourth successful separation of conjoined twins at our hospital the past three having been done in the last 7 years The success rate is around 50 per cent in such cases she saidWe are extremely grateful to the BJWHC team of doctors and the management who took care of all details without charging us a single rupee In the New Year the hospital has given a new lease of life to our two daughters and we are caring for them like normal infants said the elated parents declining to be identifiedThe 92yearold hospital built by the famed industrial family of Wadias was the countrys first independent special paediatrics hospital exclusively to provide healthcare to children and was inaugurated by the then Bombay Governor Sir Frederick Sykes in December 1929This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever