After nearly 12 hours in the operating room, doctors of the Children’s Hospital 2 in Ho Chi Minh City completed the separation of two boys conjoined at the heart and liver.

According to Dinh, from 6 am, the two babies were transferred to the operating room for anesthesia. At 9:30am, the first incision separating the skin of the abdomen and chest of the twins was performed.

Contrary to predictions, the twins named Nguyen Hoang Phi Long and Nguyen Hoang Phi Phung did not stick together in the gall, but in heart and liver.

Dr. Truong Quang Dinh, the hospital's deputy director, said everything went as calculated; both babies were taken to the recovery room in a stable state.

By 11 am, the conjoined liver was successfully separated. This stage was the most complex because the doctors had to stop the bleeding for a long time since the conjoined area of liver was large. The heart separation continued and it took about two hours to complete. At 1pm, the two babies were completely separated.

Closing the abdomen and creating the chest and abdominal wall for the two babies accounted for nearly half of the time of surgery and it is also an important part because the babies lost the sternum.

Phi Long had better health and his chest did not lose too much skin, so his abdomen was closed first and transferred to the recovery room. Phi Phung, due to defects in the chest, doctors had to graft artificial skin to replace the abdominal wall.

By 5.30pm, Phung was taken to the recovery room. Both babies were temporarily in stable conditions.

Commenting on the surgery, Dr. Dinh said this is the most complex surgery of conjoined twins in Vietnam. “Fortunately, everything took place according to calculations of the whole group. Although we still have to focus on resuscitation, we can confirm that the surgery was successful,” said Dr. Dinh.

The twins, from Ninh Thuan province, were born 14 months ago and they had since undergone a special care mechanism at the hospital before the surgery.

Before the operation, one of the twins was in good health condition, and the other was suffering after-birth cerebral hemorrhaging and pneumonia with respirator support. Doctors decided to separate the twins because any deterioration of the weaker baby could threaten the lives of the two.

In December 2012 HCM City Children Hospital 2 doctors successfully separated twins joined at the abdomen and chest.

(Source: talkvietnam)