British surgeons separate conjoined Sudanese twins

September 18, 2011 in Other

Surgeons at a British hospital have successfully separated one-year-old conjoined twins from Sudan, the charity which funded the procedure said Sunday.

Baby girls Rital and Ritag Gaboura are craniopagus twins, meaning they were born joined at the head. While conjoined twins are very rare, craniopagus twins are even rarer, and only one in ten million sufferers survive to .

One month after their separation on August 15, however, they are happy and do not appear to be suffering any from the operation, according to British charity Facing the World.

After their birth on September 22, 2010, in Khartoum, the twins' parents asked the charity to fund and organise their possible separation.

They flew to London in April, by which time Ritag's heart was already failing, and the twins were admitted the world famous Great Ormond Street Hospital.

The separation was carried out in four stages by a surgical team working for free. Two operations were performed in May, tissue expanders were inserted in July and the final separation was carried out on August 15.

"We are very thankful to be able to look forward to going home with two separate, healthy girls," said their parents, Abdelmajeed and Enas Gaboura, who are both .

"We are very grateful to all the doctors who volunteered their time and to Facing the World for organising all the and for paying for the surgery."

The surgeon who led the operation, David Dunaway, said it had presented huge challenges.

"The incidences of surviving with this condition are extremely rare. The task presented innumerable challenges and we were all very aware of our responsibilities to the family and these two little girls," he said.

"The Gaboura family have been extremely brave throughout a very stressful journey and their love for their children is clear to see."

(c) 2011 AFP

5 /5 (1 vote)  

Rank 5 /5 (1 vote)
Related Stories
Relevant PhysicsForums posts

More news stories

ACP issues recommendations for management of high blood glucose in hospitalized patients

High blood glucose is associated with poor outcomes in hospitalized patients, and use of intensive insulin therapy (IIT) to control hyperglycemia is a common practice in hospitals. But the recent evidence does not show a ...

Other created May 24, 2013 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Future doctors unaware of their obesity bias

Two out of five medical students have an unconscious bias against obese people, according to a new study by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. The study is published online ahead of print in the Journal of ...

Other created May 23, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Plastic realistic: Medical students to use plastinated human bodies for anatomy learning

Nanyang Technological University's (NTU) new medical school will be pioneering the use of plastinated bodies for medical education in Singapore.

Other created May 23, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Survey points out deficiencies in addictions training for medical residents

A 2012 survey of internal medicine residents at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) – one of the nation's leading teaching hospitals – found that more than half rated the training they had received in addiction and other ...

Other created May 22, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Early use of tracheostomy for mechanically ventilated patients not associated with improved survival

For critically ill patients receiving mechanical ventilation, early tracheostomy (within the first 4 days after admission) was not associated with an improvement in the risk of death within 30 days compared to patients who ...

Other created May 21, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0


Engineered cytomegalovirus protects monkeys from HIV equivalent

(Medical Xpress)—A new study by researchers in the US has shown that an ancient virus can be modified to help in the fight against the simian immunodeficiency virus SIV, which is the equivalent in monkeys ...

Researchers identify first drug targets in childhood genetic tumor disorder

Two mutations central to the development of infantile myofibromatosis (IM)—a disorder characterized by multiple tumors involving the skin, bone, and soft tissue—may provide new therapeutic targets, according to researchers ...

Hormone levels may provide key to understanding psychological disorders in women

Women at a particular stage in their monthly menstrual cycle may be more vulnerable to some of the psychological side-effects associated with stressful experiences, according to a study from UCL.

Going live: Immune cell activation in multiple sclerosis

Biological processes are generally based on events at the molecular and cellular level. To understand what happens in the course of infections, diseases or normal bodily functions, scientists would need to ...

Help at hand for people with schizophrenia

How can healthy people who hear voices help schizophrenics? Finding the answer for this is at the centre of research conducted at the University of Bergen.

Alzheimer's disease, the soft target of the euthanasia debate

(Medical Xpress)—The way Alzheimer's disease is portrayed by advocacy groups and the media is having undue influence on the euthanasia debate, according to a Deakin University nursing ethics professor.