- By Poorva Karki
- Thu, 27 Jul 2023 12:24 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Providing a chance to live their life to the fullest, doctors at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) successfully separated one-year-old conjoined twins after a 12-hour surgery in Delhi. The twins, Riddhi and Siddhi, were born last year in July and had to spend their first five months in the ICU (intensive care unit), as the kids were joined from the chest and stomach.
The kids hailing from Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly were diagnosed as ‘thoraco-omphalopagus conjoined twins’. After the revelation of the condition during the mother's fifth month of pregnancy, the doctors referred the family to AIIMS, Delhi.
“The two children were born last year on July 7 and were in the ICU (intensive care unit) for five months. They were separated on June 8 after a 12.5 hour-long surgery,” the hospital said in a statement.
The surgery was held on July 8, after the kids turned 11 months old, as according to the doctors, the twins were then strong enough to tolerate the trauma of surgery. In the 12.5 hrs of procedure, the surgery took nine hours while additional 3.5 hours were spent on pre and post-surgery anaesthesia, informed the doctors.
Further, letting in on the case, Additional Professor of Paediatric Surgery Department, Prabudh Goel, said, "The anomaly was peculiar, with fused rib cages, livers, partially common diaphragms, and fused pericardium. Both hearts were very close to each other, almost touching and beating in contact. The pericardium was partially fused."
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“The steps in the surgery involved the separation of the common abdominal and chest walls, division of liver tissue in a way that sufficient tissue remained for each baby, and a division of fused rib cage. It also involved separation of the diaphragm, and of pericardium,” PTI quoted the Head of the Department of Paediatric Surgery, Minu Bajpai, as he explained the complicated surgery