Nigerian siamese twins separated in Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Dec 20 (IANS) Six-month-old siamese twins from Nigeria, James and John, were separated at a private hospital here, its doctors said on Wednesday.

"The twins, who were joined at the upper part of their abdomen, were successfully separated, giving them a new lease of life," the Narayana Health City said in a statement.

The goal of the corrective surgery was to achieve a safe separation of the children and to have no disability in either of them, the hospital said.

"The operation was done by an interdisciplinary team consisting of six surgeons, six anesthetists, four anesthetic technicians, six nurses among others," said the head of Paediatric Surgery Department, Sanjay Rao, in the statement.

For James and John, barring liver, all other organs such as intestines were separate.

"The liver was carefully divided along the anatomical planes and the twins were separated," the hospital said.

After the surgery on November 24, the twins have made a rapid recovery and are in a position to live their lives independently, it added.

Siamese twins are rare, occurring once in nearly 100,000 births. Taking birth from a single embryo, the twins have a low survival rate as internal organs are shared between the two.