On Tuesday, A hospital in Rome said it had successfully separated two-year-old twins joined above the nape of their necks, after three risky surgeries.
The twin, Ervina and Prefina were admitted with a condition at the Bambino Gesu Paediatric Hospital in Rome. The birth case was said to be “one of the rarest and most complex of forms cranial and cerebral fusion”.
It hospital admitted it was the fourth joint baby in Italy and likely the world as such a case had never been cited in medical literature, that surgeons were able to separate twins joined in such a way, sharing back of their skull and it venous system.
The twins, were originally born in Bangui, Central African Republic and were brought to Italy September 2018 after the hospital’s president met with them and their mother at a medical centre where they were born.
Tests conducted in Italy showed the twins to be generally in good health but that one of them heart was working harder to maintain the “physiological balance of the organs of both, including the brain.”
The hospital said, The twin girls had “distinct” personalities, Prefina being vivacious and playful with her sister Ervina more serious and quietly observing.
The hospital said in a statement that the greatest challenge facing the team of specialists including neurosurgeons, anaesthesiologists, neuroradiologists, plastic surgeons, engineers, and physiotherapists was the shared network of blood vessels bringing blood from the girls’ brains to their hearts which required “three very delicate operations to progressively reconstruct two independent venous systems”.
The final surgery, took place on June 5, which took 18 hours involving 30 doctors and nurses, to finally divide the bones of their skull.
Surgeons then reconstructed the membrane covering the two brains and recreated the skin lining over the new skulls.
The hospital proudly said in a statement, “A month after the final separation, the twins are fine”.
Although the hospital cautioned that the risk of infection was still present and the girls would have to wear protective helmets for a few months.
Meanwhile, post-operative controls showed that their brains were “intact,” adding that they will have the opportunity to grow normally and “lead a normal life, like all girls of their age.”
It was the fourth time the hospital had operated on conjoined twins in its history
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