Separated RI twins 'doing very well' after operation<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, Singapore<\/p>\n
The 15-month-old Indonesian twin girls born conjoined at the hip
\nand abdomen were \"doing very well\" after they were surgically
\nseparated, doctors said on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\"Both woke up this morning and were smiling at their parents
\nand the doctors,\" Singaporean consultant surgeon Tan Kai Chah
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The twins, who shared three legs and one anus and had their
\nintestines fused, were successfully separated in a 10-hour
\noperation by a team of 15 doctors at the Gleneagles Hospital on
\nSaturday.<\/p>\n
Tan said Anggi, one of the twins, had been taken off the
\nventilator on Sunday and was breathing on her own.<\/p>\n
Her sister Anjeli, who is the weaker and smaller of the pair
\nand has a hole in her heart, will remain on the ventilator for
\nanother day, Tan said.<\/p>\n
Each of the twins now have one leg, with the muscle and skin
\nfrom the middle leg they had shared grafted to cover the abdomen.<\/p>\n
They are expected to remain in the hospital for two to three
\nweeks, doctors said.<\/p>\n
British consultant surgeon Edward Kiely, one of the doctors
\ninvolved in the surgery, said following the operation that there
\nwas a \"less than five percent chance that complications will
\noccur\".<\/p>\n
\"By this time next week if they are in good shape, I can say
\nthat they are out of trouble,\" said Kiely, who had participated
\nin 19 successful separations of conjoined twins.<\/p>\n
Doctors said the fact that the twins had separate vaginas,
\nurethras, uteruses, ovaries, bladders and kidneys enabled
\nsurgeons to proceed with the operation smoothly.<\/p>\n
The presence of separate vaginas and bladders had surprised
\nthe doctors as pre-operation scans showed they were sharing these
\norgans. The only organ they shared was the rectum.<\/p>\n
The girls, born into poverty in the Indonesian city of Medan,
\nwere brought to Singapore in February and have undergone an
\nintensive evaluation of their condition before the decision was
\nmade to separate them.<\/p>\n
\"I'm so relieved. I'm so happy. It's a miracle,\" the twins'
\nmother, Meng Harmaini, was quoted as saying in the Sunday Times.<\/p>\n
Hospital officials said the discounted cost of the operation
\nwas S$450,000 (US$273,000), which was shouldered by an Indonesian
\nsponsor.<\/p>\n
Without the discount, it would have cost S$700,000.<\/p>\n
It was the third successful separation of conjoined twins in
\nthe wealthy city-state, which has emerged as a center for
\nadvanced medical operations in recent years.<\/p>\n
Singapore doctors in 2001 successfully separated one-year-old
\nNepalese twins joined at the head and repeated their success in
\n2003 for South Korean infant twins fused at the spine.<\/p>\n
However, an unprecedented operation on a pair of 29-year-old
\ntwins from Iran, which attracted global attention, ended
\ntragically when both women -- Ladan and Laleh Bijani -- died from
\nsevere blood loss following a 52-hour operation in July 2003.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/separated-ri-twins-doing-very-well-after-operation-1447893297",
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