In Indonesia, conjoined twin girls were born with a very rare condition and share a chest, abdomen and a heart.According to the Daily Mail, the girls are in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Soetomo Hospital and are the most common conjoined twins known as thoracopagus twins.
Unfortunately, since the pair shares a heart it’s nearly impossible to separate them and save both babies; but specialists report that they’ve performed 53 separation surgeries on conjoined twins in the past. Remarkably, only two of those surgeries failed because of ‘anatomy and heart abnormalities in the babies’.
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The University of Maryland Medical Center reports that conjoined twins occur about once in every 200,000 live births and their survival is anything but assured. They also claim that 30-60% of conjoined twins arrive stillborn and only 35% survive a single day. Recently, conjoined twin boys who shared a heart, torso, arms and legs, passed away in an Atlanta hospital. When the newborn brothers were born, they were given medication for their joint heart but did not survive.
However, as Life News previously reported, twins Knatalye Hope and Adeline Faith Mata survived surgery to separate several of their major organs including lungs, liver, intestines, colon, pelvis and lining of the heart. The ten-month-old girls underwent a complex 26-hour operation at Texas Children’s Hospital where a team of 12 surgeons, six anesthesiologists and eight surgical nurses carried out the surgery. The twins are now recovering in the intensive care unit of the hospital and may have to undergo further procedures.
After the surgery, their mother, Elysse, said she is eternally grateful that her two girls can now live their own lives without the challenges of being connected. She said, “We know how much planning and time went into this surgery and we are so blessed to be at a place like Texas Children’s where we have access to the surgeons and caretakers that have made this dream a reality.”
She concluded, “We also want to express our gratitude to all of the people that have prayed and provided support to our family over the last 10 months.” To prepare for the major surgery, both Knatalye and Adeline underwent a five-hour procedure in December to place custom-made tissue expanders into their chest and abdomen. Additionally, models of their organs were created so doctors could carry out simulations of the operation before the actual surgery.
