Delhi: Conjoined twins successfully separated at AIIMS in 9-hour surgery, ready to be discharged

Major organs were shared between the twin sisters, including the liver, the heart's covering layers, the ribcage, the diaphragm, and the abdominal wall.

New Delhi: A pair of conjoined twins from Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly were successfully separated following a 9-hour surgery at AIIMS recently, doctors said on Wednesday.

As per the AIIMS team, twin sisters- Riddhi and Siddhi from Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly were conjoined at the chest and upper part of the belly facing each other.

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Major organs were shared between the twin sisters, including the liver, the heart’s covering layers, the ribcage, the diaphragm, and the abdominal wall.

“Separation of the livers and the region of the heart was challenging, and multiple teams of surgeons took turns to complete the surgery precisely and efficiently,” the official said.

The children were managed in the critical care unit, and inputs from various departments and nursing care by the nursing staff have enabled them to recuperate, and now they are ready to be discharged from the hospital, the official added.

In the three last years, this was the third such surgery conducted by the Pediatric Surgery Department of AIIMS Delhi under the leadership of Prof Minu Bajpai. The team has successfully separated three pairs of conjoint twins over the last three years.

The first and second pair of twins were joined at the hip and shared a common spinal cord and major vessels of the lower body and legs and now leading to a healthy childhood.

Conjoint twins are babies who are connected physically with each other since birth.

Separation of conjoint twins is a complex surgery that requires multidisciplinary coordination and meticulous planning and execution by various departments-including, including radiologists, anesthesiologists, plastic surgery, cardiothoracic surgeons, nursing, etc.