Conjoined twin girls separated in London after 50 hours of surgery

[Judi Lynn]

Craniopagus twins Safa and Marwa Ullah born with skulls and blood vessels fused together

Press Association
Mon 15 Jul 2019 14.33 EDT Last modified on Mon 15 Jul 2019 19.11 EDT


Rare conjoined twins have been separated at a world-leading children’s hospital in London, surgeons have announced.

Two-year-old sisters Safa and Marwa Ullah, from Charsadda in Pakistan, underwent three major operations to separate their heads at Great Ormond Street hospital (GOSH).

The first operation took place in October 2018, when the girls were 19 months old. The last operation, during which they were finally separated, was carried out on 11 February.

The girls, who were born by caesarean section, were craniopagus twins, with their skulls and blood vessels fused together. GOSH has previously successfully separated craniopagus twins in 2006 and 2011.

In order to ensure the operations went smoothly, experts used virtual reality to create an exact replica of the girls’ anatomies. This enabled surgeons to visualise the complex structure of their skulls as well as the positioning of their brains and blood vessels.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jul/15/conjoined-twins-separated-great-ormond-street-safa-marwa

[Rhiannon12866]

1. Wow, just amazing!

[hlthe2b]

2. I truly hope they do well. I would love a tremendous success story about now.

Having just read an in-depth summary of Ben Carson's so-called "miraculous" cases, which only rarely ended up as truly "miraculous", but more often simply tragic, I hold my breath and can only hope. I was left believing he had some considerable skill, but his fame came from taking on cases that none of the other famed neurosurgeons worldwide would. Perhaps that is noble, but for several of those families led only to predictably tragic results. The public heard all about the immediate "miraculous" separation, but none of the horrific aftermath,

May these little girls truly be medical "miracles" and live healthy, normal (or normal as possible) lives. That would be truly uplifting.