Doctors mull surgery to separate conjoined twins
Doctors mull surgery to separate conjoined twins
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung
A team of medical experts in Bandung were exploring the
possibility of separating conjoined twins born in the West Java
capital on Saturday.
Hasan Sadikin Hospital care and services director Dr. Nanan
Setiawan, speaking at a news conference, said they were examining
the unnamed twins, born at Astanaanyar Hospital closely.
The omphalopagus twins were born on Saturday evening, with
their stomachs, feet and groin joined.
The babies have no sex organs, but a scrotum was discovered.
They have one navel, and each of them has a head, complete sense
organs, two hands and two feet.
They were born to Rodiah, 35, and Asep, a 37-year old
construction worker from Bandung. The poor couple already has
seven children.
Nanan said preliminary examinations showed that the twins each
had a heart, lung, liver and kidney, and confirmed that the
babies had no sex organs, nor anus, and only one navel.
"We have stopped providing the babies with drinks because they
have no anus."
The twins, in the neonatal intensive care unit, were given
infusions to stabilize their liquid volumes.
Nanan said he would chair a meeting on Tuesday with other
experts to decide on the best course of action.
Asep was waiting outside the room housing his children,
accompanied by his brother-in-law, Dadang Hanafi, and Uya
Mulyana, the head of Rahayu village in Margaasih subdistrict,
where Asep's family lives.
Rodiah was still being treated at Astanaanyar Hospital. She
was expected to be discharged on Wednesday.
Asep said he had no money to cover the medical costs of his
twins, asking the hospital to give free treatment, including for
any separation surgery.
Nanan assured Asep that he did not need to worry about the
medical costs, saying the hospital would seek financial
assistance from the West Java health office.
Hasan Sadikin Hospital has handled three sets of conjoined
twins in the last five years.
In 1997, the hospital successfully operated on a baby with
four feet. Last year, a pair of twins died at the hospital before
they were operated on.
Last week, a pair of Iranian adult twins joined at the head
died of blood loss after unsuccessful separation surgery in
Singapore.
It was the first attempt to separate adult twins joined at the
head, although the surgery has been performed successfully since
1952 on infants, whose brains can more easily recover.
Conjoined twins form when an embryo begins to split into
identical twins but stops part way, leaving the partially
separated egg to mature. They occur once in every 150,000 to
200,000 live births.