Doctors at Thailand's Siriraj Hospital announced Thursday that they
successfully performed a
rare operation to separate a pair of conjoined female infants, carefully separating their hearts (
hearts!) and livers (
livers!) in the delicate procedure.
The girls, Panwad Tiyenjai and Pantawan Tiyenjai, were joined from chest to abdomen, but what made their case unusual was that the upper chambers, or
atriums, of their hearts were connected, with one pumping blood to the
other. (Let's just let that marinate for a moment...Damn!)
The 12-hour operation took place a little over a month ago when the girls were eight-months-old. A team of 61 doctors and nurses
took part. Both girls are said to be in good condition, though one has a slight
heart defect which can be fixed when she gets older.
Amazing.
[photo credit: AP]
