AIIMS doctors split twins joined at head, next 15 days critical

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After surgery 

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Bhubaneswar/New Delhi, October 26,
2017: Odisha’s craniopagus twins- joined at the head-who were successfully separated
on Wednesday after a marathon surgery that lasted around 16 hours at the AIIMS
in Delhi, are continued to be in critical condition.
Doctors say that the next 15 days will
be critical.
Sharing the entire operation procedure
with media persons on Thursday afternoon, AIIMS, Delhi Director Randeep Guleria
said that Jaga and Kalia craniopagus (conjoined) twins were given anaesthesia
at 6 am on October 25 and the surgery started at 9.30 am which lasted for 16
hours.

Before surgery 
“Babies were separated around 8.45 pm,” AIIMS
Neuroscience Centre chief Dr Ashok Kumar Mahapatra. The entire team of doctors
were present in the news conference and shared their experience.  
The separation ended at around 8.45 pm
and for covering the brain and use of skin flap and graft too another four-five
hours.
“Both the babies are kept in ICU under
the care of a team of doctors from Neuroanaesthesia, Neurosurgery, Pediatric
Critcial care, cardiac Anaesthesia, Pediatric Cardiology, Pediatrict Nephrology
and Pediatric Neurogy departments,” added Prof Mohapatra.
“It was team work of 40 doctors, 20
nurses and many paramedical staff,” said prof Mohapatra, saying that without
their help it would not have been possible.
The entire treatment and operation
process of the twins are being conducted under the direct supervision of Prof
Mohapatra.
“Reconstruction was a challenge as the
twins had common circulation of blood and other fluids in the brain and there
was no skin on the top of skull which was reconstructed through plastic surgery,”
said Prof Mohapatra.
The twins aged two years and five months,
born to Bhuiyan and Pushpa, poor farmers from Kandhamal district, were admitted
to AIIMS on July 14 and the first phase operation was successfully conducted on
August 28 at the Odisha Government’s initiative.
The first phase of the surgery was
done which included experts from Japan.
As part of the first phase, a new
bypass technique was used for the first time on the twins. Ahead of the
surgery, the twins had to undergo numerous tests.
They are joined from their heads by
birth. In medical term, kids with such sort of deformity are known as
‘craniopagus conjoint twins.’ It is an extremely rare condition found in 1 in
2.5 million births in the world. Such deformity afflicts one in 30 lakh
children, of which 50 per cent die either at birth or within 24 hours. Surgery
is feasible only on 25 per cent of the survivors, while the rest continue to
live with the condition.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik
on July 19 had sanctioned Rs 1 crore for the treatment of the twins.

The CM also thanked Prof Mohapatra and
his team for the separation surgery. 

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