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Surgeons Successfully Separate Baby Girls Joined at the Head
September 20th, 2011
There are risks and possible complications with healthy multiples, but imagine if your babies were not only twins, but conjoined at the head. Sudanese baby girls Rital and Ritag Gaboura—who are craniopagus twins—will be celebrating their first birthdays this week as two separate girls, thanks to the help of their surgical team and the wonderful people at Facing the World, a charity that provides reconstructive surgery to children with severe facial disfigurements.
Craniopagus twins occur in only about one in 2.5 million births. Separating this type of twins can be incredibly risky, especially if there’s significant blood flowing between the two babies. On the other hand, not splitting the twins can prove to be just as dangerous as blood almost never pumps across the two children evenly, leaving one twin stronger and one twin much weaker.
“Incidences of surviving twins with this condition is extremely rare,” lead surgeon David Dunaway said in a statement released by Facing the World. “The task presented innumerable challenges and we were all very aware of our responsibilities to the family and these two little girls.”
Within days of the August 15th surgery, the girls were looking alert and healthy and interacting as they had before. Dr. Dunaway says, “It is a delight to see how well the girls are doing. Rital was up and holding her own milk bottle again within days of surgery. After 11 months of spending most of their time lying on their backs it is amazing how quickly they have adapted.”
First birthday gifts don’t really get much better than this.
Copyright © 2012 St. Joseph Media. All Rights Reserved.