Twins conjoined at head separated in Saudi hospital
Baby girls, Tuqa and Yakeen, were conjoined at birth sharing a head.
RIYADH (Web Desk) - It took 10 hours and 22 highly-professional doctors to separate the four-year-old Syrian Siamese twins, who were conjoined at the head.
The girls’ plight first came to light in 2013 when their father appealed for King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to help with treatment.
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Later, Tuqa and Yaqeen were flown from Syria for the operation in Saudi Arabia on orders by King Salman bin Abdul Aziz, Sabq newspaper said.
“The twins were conjoined at the head and this is one of the most complicated and difficult Siamese cases,” said Dr Ahmed Al Faryan, a brain consultant, who led the operating team.
The girls have two independent brains, that allowed doctors to perform the operation. The surgery at King Abdul Aziz Medical City was performed in six stages.
The girls underwent preparatory surgeries before the final one this weekend. It took 10 hours and 22 highly-professional doctors and nurses to separate the four-year-olds.
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Saudi Arabia has a team of top surgeons in the separation of twins with the experience of treating more than 65 twins, of which 30 have been successful during the past two decades. The remaining cases were not fit for separation owing to health reasons.
Besides the Kingdom, the twins came from Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Egypt, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland, Morocco and Iraq.
The separation of conjoined twins is carried out on directives issued by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and the total expenses of the surgery and the travel costs are borne by the Saudi government as a humanitarian gesture, the Arab News reported.
Twins conjoined at the skull or otherwise sraniopagus are extremely rare phenomenon. Approximately 40% of such twins are stillborn and an additional 33% die within the immediate perinatal period, usually from organ abnormalities and failure.
