ISLAMABAD – A 15-member team led by Dr Zaheer Abbasi at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad, on Tuesday successfully separated four-month-old incomplete conjoined boy from his brother. The conjoined twins were born at the Children Hospital PIMS four months ago and one of them was incomplete having lower body and a head. The other boy, Faisal, was healthy but shared abdomen and chest with his incomplete twin. The doctors took three hours for the surgery to separate them successfully.
The survived boy is now in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for the next two to three days but he is stated to be out of danger. It was fourth successful surgery of the conjoined twins sharing parts of the body, abdomen and chest, at the PIMS, a government run hospital. When contacted, Dr Zaheer Abbasi said they managed to remove the incomplete baby from the healthy one successfully. The incomplete baby did not have separate brain and heart; therefore, he was sharing the blood supply from Faisal, he said, adding that they were sharing large and small intestines and hepatic veins (bold vessels that drain de-oxygenated blood from the liver and blood cleaned by the liver).
Talking to the Pakistan Today, Dr Amjad Raja, Executive Director Children Hospital PIMS, said the conjoined twins had their own brains and hearts, which made it easier for the doctors to separate them. He said the parents hailing from Swat came to the PIMS four months ago and the hospital administration was providing them full support and free treatment besides looking after of the whole family.
It is worth mentioning that ten-month-old conjoined twin sisters, Shazia and Nazia, died in PIMS some months back after a major surgery. Although there was little possibility of their survival as they were sharing a major part of brain and skull, the doctors successfully separated them and one of them, Nazia, survived the exercise but she also died a day later.
