Youngest ever Siamese twins separated

Twins born in Switzerland had been joined at the liver and chest

Conjoined twins Lydia (left) and Maya before their operation in Switzerland last December. They were eight days old when doctors separated them. The girls, who have a triplet sister, weighed a total of 2.2kg at the time of their operation.
Conjoined twins Lydia (left) and Maya before their operation in Switzerland last December. They were eight days old when doctors separated them. The girls, who have a triplet sister, weighed a total of 2.2kg at the time of their operation. PHOTO: EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY

GENEVA • Swiss doctors have separated eight-day-old conjoined twin sisters fused at the liver and chest - the youngest ever successfully separated, according to a newspaper.

Five surgeons, assisted by two nurses and six anaesthesiologists, carried out the five-hour operation in December to separate the tiny identical twins, the Le Matin Dimanche weekly reported on Sunday.

Maya and Lydia were born at a Bern hospital two months prematurely, along with their triplet sister Kamilla, on Dec 2.

The conjoined twins were initially stable and doctors had planned to allow them to settle after birth and separate them after a few months. But after a week, their situation deteriorated dramatically: one suffering from hypertension and the other from the opposite condition, known as hypotension.

Both conditions were life-threatening to the frail twins, who weighed just 1.1kg each, and the doctors decided that their only chance was attempting surgery never before performed on such young infants.

Separating the babies' liver put both under massive pressure, said Dr Barbara Wildhaber, head of the paediatric surgery unit at the Geneva University Hospital, who headed the team that carried out the surgery on Dec 10.

"We were prepared for the death of both babies, it was so extreme," she told Le Matin Dimanche.

But the surgery was a success, despite having only a 1 per cent chance, the BBC reported.

"It was magnificent! I will remember it my entire career," Dr Wildhaber said.

Since the surgery, Maya and Lydia have been recovering well, they have put on weight and have begun breastfeeding, the Swiss newspaper reported.

The pair are among only about 200 separated conjoined twins currently living, it said.

Also known as Siamese twins, conjoined siblings are identical twins who, in rare cases - about one in 200,000 live births - are born with their skin and internal organs fused together, according to the University of Maryland Medical Centre website.

About half are stillborn, and their survival rate is between 5 per cent and 25 per cent. They develop from a single egg, which splits in the case of healthy twins, but not fully in the case of conjoined siblings.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 02, 2016, with the headline Youngest ever Siamese twins separated. Subscribe