Strollerderby : conjoined twins

Conjoined Twin Surgery: One Lives, One Dies

Brett Singer — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:30:00 GMT

An operation to separate the one-week-old conjoined twins, named Hope and Faith, resulted in the Hope's death. Faith is still alive, with a "50-50 chance of survival," according to published reports.

The twins were born last week to Laura Williams. At 18, she is said to be the youngest woman ever to give birth to conjoined twins in Britain.

Listen to this: "The sisters were joined from the breastbone to the top of the navel. They shared their blood circulation but had their own organs, though they were joined at the liver and intestines." Can you imagine? I can, but not easily.

The doctors who performed the separation procedure wanted to wait but "the twins' health was deteriorating," which led to the emergency surgery.

So sad. I mean, what can you say? At least one of them survived? That's good news, right? Somehow it doesn't offset the sadness of the other half of the story. The fact that the twins' names are Hope and Faith got to me even more.

Source: AFP via Google

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British Teen Makes History with Siamese Twins

JeanneSager — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:31:00 GMT

A British teenager and her husband will make medical history this week, but all they're too frought with worry to celebrate. Laura Williams is just eighteen. When she delivers conjoined twins this week via a C-section, she'll be the youngest-ever woman in British history to give birth to Siamese twins.

Williams and husband Aled, twenty-eight, have been told their twins, already named Faith and Hope, may not survive past the two-week mark. Like most parents, survival for their children is all the Williams' have focused on since her twelve-week sonogram revealed the babies' rare condition. Tests have confirmed the girls have separate hearts, which alone greatly enhances their chances of survival. They've also revealed the babies are joined from the breastbone to the top of the navel, but little else. Whether the girls share any major organs - which will play a large role in doctors' moves immediately following birth - has yet to be determined.

Laura Williams has spent the last month in a hospital under constant monitoring, in part because doctors warned that carrying this pregnancy to term could prevent her from ever again having a child. She'll be transferred to a hospital in London this week for the birth. "It's scary every day and it's been the hardest decision of our lives, but if they're meant to be in this world and if they've come this far, we've got to hope they'll make it the rest of the way," she told London's Daily Mail.

To have the strength to go forward with a pregnancy that could not only result in losing your children within two weeks but also destroy your chances of ever again having another child is incredibly brave and highly personal. I can't find fault with the Williams' decision; I can only cross my fingers for them that their brush with medical history is also a medical miracle.

No matter the outcome, at the very least, they have Faith . . . and Hope.

Image: Buckles Family (another set of conjoined twins)

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Twins Who Shared Heart Recovering Fine

Kelly Mills — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 19:29:00 GMT

Here's your twin story for the day. Conjoined twins who were separated by medical procedure and given a 50 percent survival rate are doing well. The two-year-old girls, Yurelia and Fiorella Rocha-Arias, were conjoined at the abdomen and chest, and shared a right atria. The separation surgery took place in November, and now the twins have been cleared to return home to Costa Rica soon. "I feel very happy and very content, because my girls were born anew in this hospital," said the twins' mother through a translator.

The surgery was no picnic: While there were serious concerns for the life of the girls following the seperation, one of the twins also required additional surgery to correct heart defects. The physicians at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University donated their time to care for the girls, and faith-based non-profit Mending Kids International covered transportation and housing. One doctor estimates 300 people were involved in the procedure. The twins' mom says her girls are still connected to each other: "They always look for each other. They sleep together. They try to be together as often as possible."

Doctors Find Two Dead Siblings In the Stomach of a Lone Triplet

Madeline Holler — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 22:02:00 GMT

Doctors removed two siblings from the body of a one-year-old in Indonesia yesterday. The girl’s siblings were removed from her abdomen and the surviving triplet, who absorbed her unviable sisters, is expected to survive.

Doctors discovered the triplets when they examined the living child for what they thought were abdominal tumors but turned out to be partially formed human bodies.

The surgery took five hours, but was complicated. The aortas of the two absorbed triplets were still linked with the surviving girl's.

One of the bodies, according the story, was totally complete, except for arms and legs. And the other had ony a head, but with hair, and also part of a digestive system.

Doctors said the two would have been lifeless when the girl was born.

This makes little Lakshmi's recent twin removal seem half-way normal.

Photo: AFP stock photo on yahoo.com

Surgery on Girl with 8 Arms, Legs a Success

Madeline Holler — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 20:29:00 GMT

A team of 30 surgeons and doctors successfully removed the two extra arms and two extra legs of a 2-year-old Indian girl, who had been born with eight limbs, a second spine and other extra organs.

As part of the surgery, which lasted 24 hours, doctors also managed to salvage her organs and reconstruct her pelvis. The lead surgeon said this girl, whose villagers believed she was a reincarnation of Hindu Goddess Lakshmi, would lead a normal life once she has fully recovered.

Lakshmi's extra body parts are the result of a "parasitic twin," a second fetus in a mother's womb that dies and becomes absorbed by the other living and normally developing fetus.

The next few days she will be watched closely as she remains in critical condition. One surgeon in the U.S., who was not involved in Lakshmi's operation, said the girls chances of survival are great, since she and her twin weren't joined at the brain or heart.

Photo: Associated Press

8-Limbed Girl to Undergo Surgery

Madeline Holler — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 19:09:00 GMT

A girl who was born with eight arms and legs is undergoing surgery in her native India to have some of them removed. (Click here for more pictures.)

Considered by some in her village to be a reincarnation of the Hindu goddess -- after whom the 2-year-old Lakshmi is named -- the girl has been treated with reverence as well as spectacle. A circus even offered to buy her from her family.

The extra limbs -- and also extra organs -- are the result of a parsitic twin. A conjoined twin stopped developing in the mother's womb and was absorbed by the surviving fetus. This has left Lakshmi with a complicated little body. Doctors have already separated her two fused spines.

Chances are good that she'll live past adolescence, her doctors say, if she can overcome the 20 to 25 percent odds that she won't survive the surgery.

Photos: Associated Press

Conjoined Twins Joined at the Heart Successfully Separated

Stefania Pomponi Butler (CityMama) — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 13:06:00 GMT

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]

Strollerderby : conjoined twins

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