Twins conjoined at the head separated in marathon 14-hour surgery
globalnews.caConjoined twins less than a year old have been separated by U.K. and Turkish surgeons in a marathon 14-hour surgery and are expected to make a full recovery.Minal and Mirha, 11-month-old girls from Pakistan, were born fused at the head, sharing several vital blood vessels. Now, following a two-stage procedure involving 60 medical professionals, the twins will get to celebrate their first birthday separately.According to The Sunday Times, the operation was arranged by a charity called Gemini Untwined, which specializes in treating and researching craniopagus twins — children born with fused skulls, intertwined brains, and shared blood vessels.
The founder of the charity, British paediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Owase Jeelani, led the operation that successfully separated Minal and Mirha.The procedure consisted of two surgeries: the first to expand the distance between two girls’ heads, and the second to completely separate them. Before the operation, surgeons used virtual reality goggles to rehearse the precise movements, using 3D scans of the twins’ conjoined skulls.Both stages of the operation took place in the Turkish capital of Ankara at Bilkent City Hospital, with Dr.
Jeelani being assisted by Turkish physicians Dr. Harun Demirci and Dr. Hasan Murat Ergani, according to the Anadolu news agency.Dr.
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