Conjoined Twins Joined at the Head Separated in 4-Stage Operation

By CP News Briefs, Monday, September 19, 2011

U.K. surgeons have succeeded in separating twin girls joined at the head. The four-stage operation to separate the Sudanese twins took place at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital, funded by Facing the World, a charity for disfigured children.

The charity released a statement in which surgeon David Dunaway described the dangerous procedure.

"Incidences of surviving twins with this condition is extremely rare. The task presented innumerable challenges and we were all very aware of our responsibilities to the family and these two little girls."

Eleven-month old Rital and Ritag Gaboura had two operations in May, had tissue expanders inserted in July, and the final separation taking place Aug 15.

"Within days the twins were back on the general ward interacting and playing as before," the statement read.

This is not the first time craniopagus twins were separated. Surgeons in New York's Montefiore Children's Hospital separated Filipino twins in 2004, and another set of twins from Egypt were also separated in Dallas in 2003.