Doctors create anus for conjoined twins

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

A team of doctors on Tuesday successfully created an anus for three-day old conjoined twins born with one buttock in the West Java capital of Bandung.

The twins, joined at the stomach, feet and groin, would have to wait at least six months for separation surgery, said Dr. Choirul Ismail, who led the surgery at Hasan Sadikin Hospital in Bandung.

"We created an anus in order for the babies to be able to survive, while exploring the possibility of conducting a separation operation."

Tuesday's operation took two hours, he said. "It was a successful surgery."

The twins were born on Saturday with separate heads and chests, but fused at the stomach and without an anus, which forced doctors to stop feeding the babies on Monday.

They have no sex organs, but a scrotum was discovered. The babies have one navel, and each of them has complete sense organs, two hands and two feet.

Choirul said the twins were not yet in a stable condition, with infusions being given to them to stabilize their liquid volumes.

The twins also have anemia, he added.

The doctors also discovered another abnormality, in that one of the baby's hearts is on the right side of the body.

However, Choirul said the three-day old twins' weight rose by half a kilogram to 4.75 kilograms.

It would take between six months and a year for the twins to be strong enough to be separated, he said.

"We continued examining the babies but have found no proper solution as yet. If we need to separate them, we have to calculate the risks."

The twins were born at Astanaanyar Hospital to Rodiah, 35, and Asep, a 37-year old construction worker from Bandung. The poor couple already have seven children.

Last week, a pair of Iranian adult conjoined twins, Ladan and Laleh Bijani, died of blood loss during unsuccessful surgery in Singapore. It was the first attempt to separate adult twins joined at the head.

Conjoined twins occur once in every 150,000 to 200,000 live births.

About 40 percent to 60 percent of conjoined twins are stillborn and 35 percent survive 24 hours or less. Those who survive longer are often plagued by medical complications due to shared organs and vital systems.