Successfully separated conjoined twins

After nearly 6 hours of work, the surgeons successfully separated two 4-month-old twin girls attached to the chest and abdomen.

Two twin girls named An An and Xin Xin were born in April 2011, with liver, chest bone and sacs around their hearts connected. 2 babies were transferred to Shanghai Pediatric Center, China 2 hours after birth.

Their mother was a 39-year-old woman from Zhejiang Province who discovered this phenomenon during an ultrasound of the fetus before birth for 18 weeks. So she decided to give birth according to the doctor's advice.

Two girls conjoined with breast bones, heart bags and liver were successfully operated (Photo: Chinadaily)

'The total weight of 2 babies until Monday (September 5, 2011) increased to 10kg, enough for doctors to perform surgery. And especially with a separate heart, the connection is not complicated, ' said Chen Qimin, a doctor in the surgery.

Starting from 9 am on Monday (September 5, 2011), 4 groups of doctors have been working for nearly 6 hours to successfully operate the two babies.

'When we separate the heart and liver, we also change and repair the breastbone shape of babies with titanium alloy plates , ' said Dr. Chen.

Previously, Shanghai Pediatric Center also performed surgery for 1 conjoined twins. Unlike the previous case, the above twins were followed up during pregnancy.

Director of the Pediatric Center, Mr. Liu Jinfen said, 'twins during pregnancy will be closely monitored to detect birth defects at the early stage of the fetus'.

Conjoined twins are very rare, this deformation occurs 1 time out of a total of 50,000 to 100,000 births worldwide.

Currently, China has a high rate of birth defects, and each year about 800,000 to 1.2 million newborns are affected by birth defects, such as congenital heart disease, open lips. and palate and gastrointestinal problems.