In rare surgery, PGI docs separate conjoined twins

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 30 

Doctors at the PGI have achieved another feat  by successfully conducting a rare surgery to separate conjoined twins. The two babies were operated upon on November 23 and are recovering fast. The doctors said they would be discharged soon.

This is the first such surgery at the PGI in which doctors have been successful in separating conjoined twins. Earlier, two such cases were referred to the PGI more than 10 years ago, but the patients did not survive.

Associate Professor at the Paediatrics Department Ravi Kanojia said the conjoined twins, Jannat and Mannat, were brought to the PGI by their father Mohammad Salim, a daily wage labourer, from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh. They were joined at their abdomen and the lower part of the chest, a condition called omphalophagus conjoined twins.  As they were just a few days old, their combined weight was just 3 kg and it was not possible to conduct a surgery upon them, he said.

 A team of surgeons from the the Paediatrics Department examined the twins and planned for surgery at a later date when they were strong enough to withstand the major procedure of separation. 

In the meantime, during diagnostic tests, the twins were found with a conjoined liver in between. Fortunately, the rest of their organs were separate, said Dr Kanojia.

The surgical team took the twins for separation surgery at the age of 3 months when they weighed 4.2 kg.

While the hospital administration representative helped in arranging the surgical consumables free of cost, two separate surgical teams, each comprising anaestheists and surgeons and operative care experts, carried out the eight-hour-long procedure on November 23.

Though Jannat did well from the beginning, her sister Mannat had to be kept on ventilator for some time. She eventually recovered well and both girls are now ready to go home soon, said Dr Kanojia.