Joy, relief as twins separated
NEWBORN SWAZI SISTERS FORTUNATE NOT TO SHARE A HEART, VITAL ORGANS Babies joined by a skin bridge which made it easier.
Recently born conjoined twins were successfully separated in a sixhour operation at Netcare Unitas Hospital in Centurion on Saturday. The twin girls from Swaziland, Uwenzile and Uyihlelile Shilongonyane, were born joined at the abdomen on January 2 to 19-year-old Bongekile Simelane and her husband, Mbongeni Sihlongonyane.
Speaking ahead of the procedure, paediatric surgeons Dr Mariza de Villiers and Dr Paul Stevens said the prognosis was good.
“This type of conjoined twins are known as omphalopagus twins, which means they were joined at the lower abdomen and do not share a heart,” they said.
“Preoperative assessments indicated that the babies also did not share any other vital organs. This considerably improved their chances of surviving the surgical separation and will also contribute greatly to them leading healthy lives,” said De Villiers.
The girls are the second set of conjoined twins that De Villiers and Stevens have separated and are the first to have their separation surgery done at Netcare Unitas Hospital.
De Villiers said the twins were joined only by a bridge of skin which made the operation simpler than if they shared vital organs.
“There are always considerable risks when separating conjoined twins, but we were cautiously optimistic that the operation would have a good outcome for both twins. The fact there was a skin bridge between them meant there was sufficient skin to close the surgical wound on each baby without the need for plastic surgery,” she said.
Stevens said one of the main problems related to the anaesthesia. “They were conjoined in such a way that they are facing each other. Intubation for such tiny babies is delicate enough, but as their faces were so close to one another and they were not able to be placed on their backs to be intubated for anaesthesia it was more complicated than usual,” he said.
The initial stage of the procedure, which was dedicated to getting the anaesthetic just right for the surgery, took more than three hours. The twins were officially separated at noon on Saturday and the rest of the surgery was completed just before 2pm.
The babies were born by caesarean section. Bongekile and Mbongeni are also parents of twin boys aged two.
“We are all so impressed with the ease with which this young mother has been handling her conjoined babies, considering the difficulty in doing something as basic as picking them up,” commented general manager Robert Jordaan.
“What happened represents a milestone in the medical history of our facility,” he said. – ANA