Conjoined twins separated in Mexico

Conjoined baby girls were successfully separated by surgeons from the Children Hospital of Mexico at the age of seven months, as reported by the specialists.

Twins Melany Amayrany and María Guadalupe were joined by the spinal cord and sacrum bone, a circumstance that could compromise their central nervous digestive system.

A multidisciplinary team of doctors explained to media that the surgery performed on September 25 was difficult because they had to separate 40 nerve roots involved in the movement of the legs, as well as to avoid any sequels such as fecal incontinence and urinary tract problems.

The head of the hospital, Jaime Nieto Zermeño, said that the main risk was that the babies could end being unable to move their legs or to die during surgery.

Nieto Zermeño explained that the challenge was to separate the spinal cord and neurosurgeon Felipe Gordillo said that they spent more than four hours working through a microscope to magnify up to 40 times the structures involved.

They assured that the outcome was positive, because none of the girls presents neurological deficits and both are capable of full movement.

Neurosurgeon Fernando Chico Ponce and plastic surgeon Ángel Sánchez added that the whole separation process lasted approximately 15 hours and was attended by 30 specialists in neurosurgery, plastic surgery, physiology, pediatrics, anesthesiology, and gastroenterology.

It is expected according to the doctors that in one or two weeks the girls could be discharged and continue their rehabilitation in the hospital.

"We have the two girls moving their limbs. It is quite possible that they will be able to walk ... but could need orthopedic treatment and rehabilitation," expressed Chico Ponce.