Conjoined Twins Separated in Haiti
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Rebecca Rollins, Interim Chief Communications Officer
rrollins@pih.org
BOSTON (May 26, 2015)–Partners In Health and Zanmi Lasante, its sister organization in Haiti, are proud to announce that 6-month-old conjoined twin sisters were successfully separated on Friday, May 22, at University Hospital (HUM) in Mirebalais and are in stable condition within the hospital’s intensive care unit.
A national and international team of surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, and other specialists collaborated on the twins’ case from the time they were in utero through planning, surgery, and post-operative care. Dr. Christophe Milien, HUM’s director of obstetrics and gynecology, provided prenatal care to the mother and delivered the babies, who have a healthy fraternal triplet sister, by cesarean section on November 24, 2014.
Drs. Henri Ford and James Stein, of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, led the international team of surgeons during the separation and were joined by their colleagues and others from Bernard Mevs, Florida Hospital, Cornell Weill Hospital, Children’s Hospital Oakland, Boston Children’s Hospital, PULSE, and Loma Linda Hospital.
The babies shared a liver but no major vasculature, and represented one of the least complex variations of conjoined twins. Surgeons separated the pair during a seven-hour procedure without any major complications. Their recovery has been rapid; both are breathing on their own and have taken their first bottles.
PIH will release more information in an upcoming story.
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