With a 1% chance of success, doctors in Switzerland have separated eight-day-old sisters conjoined at the liver and chest. They’re the youngest babies to have ever been successfully separated.
The doctors originally planned to do the operation a few months down the road, but had to expedite the procedure when life-threatening conditions were discovered in each infant. One of the twins had too much blood, and very high blood pressure, while the other one did not have enough.
A large team of 13 practitioners took five hours to finish the surgery.
“Such small conjoined siblings had never been successfully separated before,” the hospital said.
“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.”
After the successful separation, they had to operate once again; doctors had to close their exposed abdominal walls afterwards.
While the hospital describes the children as “still very small”, they’ve been recovering well in the paediatric intensive care ward since the procedure on December 10.
Photo credit: Zoia Kostina/Shutterstock
