Surgeons in Switzerland have announced the successful separation of conjoined twins at the youngest-ever age: 8 days old.
Weighing just 2.4 pounds each, the female twins were born joined together at the liver and chest. The sisters, Maya and Lydia, were born two months premature along with their non-joined triplet sister Kamilla in December.
It required five surgeons, helped by two nurses and six anesthesiologists, to perform the five-hour separation on the small identical twins at a hospital in Bern, Switzerland.
The twins were born stable and doctors at Inselspital Hospital decided to let them settle down after the birth then separate them after a few months. However, after a week, their condition deteriorated drastically: one struggling with hypertension and the other being affected by the contrary condition, referred to as “hypotension”.
Both conditions were life-threatening and the doctors decided their only chance was attempting a surgery never before conducted on babies so young. The chance of success for such an operation is typically pegged at 1 percent.
A surgery for the ages
Barbara Wildhaber, the pediatric surgeon who headed the team that carried out the surgery, told media properly separating the liver was the most challenging part of the procedure.
“We were prepared for the death of both babies, it was so extreme,” she said. “It was magnificent. I will remember it my entire career.”
The twins are now reportedly doing well and have begun breastfeeding.
Steffen Berger, head of pediatric surgery at Inselspital Hospital, told BBC News the medical staff’s performance was key to the operations success.
“The perfect teamwork of physicians and nursing personnel from various disciplines were the key to success here. We are very happy that the children and parents are faring so well now,” Berger said.
The pair is among the approximately 200 separated conjoined twins currently living in the world.
Also referred to as Siamese twins, conjoined siblings appear every 1 in 200,000 live births. By definition, they are born with their skin and internal organs merged together. Around half are stillborn, and the rate of survival is between five and 25 percent.
Conjoined twins develop from a single egg, which splits when it comes to standard identical twins, but not fully in the the event of conjoined siblings.
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Feature Image: Thinkstock
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