BHUBANESWAR: After a marathon surgery on the conjoined twins of Kandhamal, doctors at All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi have been successful in operating half of their brain.
The surgery, that continued for more than 20 hours, ended on Tuesday.
After the rare surgery, considered to be the first-of-its-kind in the country, Jaga, and Balia, have been put on a ventilator, and their condition is stated to be stable.
The surgeons are keeping their fingers crossed and hoping that the twins would recover. Director of SGPGIMS of Neurosurgery Department Dr. Ashok Kumar Mahapatra said a team of around 20 specialists, including a surgeon from Japan, operated the twins.
“They have separated half of their brain and two-thirds of their skull to create a venous bypass as the two shared veins that return blood to the heart from the brain. One of the babies had no vein for which an artificial vein was created,” he said. Dr. Mahapatra said the twins are on ventilator and doctors are planning to bring them out of the ventilator on Wednesday. “Though the twins are in life support system, they are opening their eyes and moving their hands and legs,” he said. Meanwhile, the doctors believed they would be able to brave another surgery in the next couple of months so that the twins can be fully separated and can live a normal life. “We have to give the babies enough time to recover. The babies need 250 sq cm skin which is not available now.
That’s why we have joined skin expander which will help it to expand. We expect the required skin can be grown within six weeks. After that, we will finalise the date for second phase surgery,” Dr. Mahapatra added. Parents of the twins said they are happy to know that the surgery passed off well. “We have not seen our babies. But doctors told us that they are stable and admitted to the ICU. Hope we could see them on Wednesday,” father Bhuan Kanhar said.
Health Minister Pratap Jena, who is coordinating with the AIIMS, said a surgeon from the US would be involved during the second phase surgery.
On Monday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had joined the people from the State, who prayed for the successful surgery. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had also spoken to AIIMS authorities.